Montréal: A Breeding ground for innovation

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By Shawn Lawrence

Synergy is the term used to describe a situation where different entities cooperate advantageously for a positive final outcome. Simply defined, synergy means that the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts.

As one of the more active provinces in the biosciences, Québec ranks third in North America, right after California and Massachusetts in terms of its network of biotechnology companies. It’s a province of great synergy, where organizations come together to create something greater than the sum of its parts. At the nucleus of this activity is the city of Montréal, the province’s commercial centre with a metro population of more than 3.9 million people.

Home to 70 per cent of the provinces life science companies and organizations, the Montréal bioscience community is comprised of more than 620 organizations, 150 research organizations, including 80 subsidiaries of foreign companies. In a nutshell, it’s a fertile breeding ground for innovation and a shining example of synergy.

The brand name behind this burgeoning cluster, Montréal InVivo operates not just as a catalyst in the development of the cluster, but also as an initiative that brings companies, research centres and educational institutions together to undertake cooperative efforts. Established in 2007, Montréal InVivo is the platform that brings all the players together, states Michelle Savoie, general manager Montréal InVivo.

“Our members represent a wide drug development spectrum, from the big pharmas to the small biotechs, universities, hospitals, and of course both public and private research centres,” she states. “
“I would say it’s our goal to ensure that all our members are represented, to make sure that our lead strategies and actions take into account the impact on the overall chain of research and innovation right through to commercialization.”

The goal explains Savoie is to create wealth by stimulating partnership between the both big and small biotech, getting groups that wouldn’t normally associate with one another to work together for the betterment of the cluster. As such, the organization also functions with an eye towards attracting business to Montréal and to the province. Similarly, the organization operates as an advocate for proper policy and influences the strategy from government, in a manner of speaking it is the voice for Montréal’s bioscience community. It’s a role that does come with its share of challenges.

“Having all the players agree on common objectives is perhaps our greatest challenge, but it’s also why a cluster needs to exist and why Montréal InVivo is essential. Getting our players to somehow set aside their own agendas and differences, and look at the bigger picture and agree on a common objective that will benefit all the players is our goal,” she explains.

Identifying the necessary components for new innovation, and ensuring these innovations get integrated into the Québec market are also a priority for Montréal InVivo.

“When Montréal InVivo was created there were seven strategic areas identified to help to grow the sector. They were research, technology transfer, funding, commercialization, visibility, economic and scientific impact, and human resources. To help solve the problems associated with each strategic area, a working group with representation from all sectors, public, private and academic assigned to each area.”

In addition to encouraging dialogue and strengthening the exchange between the academic community and the private sector, other goals were set by the working groups such as improving upon technology transfer strategies, allowing for optimal transfer of university-created innovations to industry, stimulating funding and of course enhancing the visibility and reputation of the cluster itself.

“The goal is not just to maintain our status as one of the three key clusters in North America, but measure up alongside the other clusters like the Boston and San Diego areas in terms of competitiveness,” she said.

To meet this goal, Montréal InVivo has aggressively sought to develop and create partnership at both the international level and domestically by using the regions strengths as leverage.

Among those strengths specifically are the presence of numerous global leaders such as Algorithme Pharma, Anapharm, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Inglelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Glaxo-Smith Kline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck Frosst, Novartis, Pfizer, Sandoz, sanofi-aventis, MDS Pharma Services and Wyeth within the cluster, as well as a workforce of more than 40,000 people.

“We have a strong internationally recognized network of researchers and we are known for our research excellence,” she explains. “The cluster is also unique in that it is one of the few places in the world where a company can conduct every phase of creation of a new drug, from basic research through to commercialization all in the same area and we have all types of different organizations to do the preclinical and clinical work,” she said.

What makes Montréal even more attractive on the international stage is that companies in the cluster enjoy competitive operating costs that rank among the 15 largest metropolitan areas in North America. Additionally, all eligible R&D expenses are deductible in Québec.

Governments allow current and capital expenditures to be deducted in the current year or later and the net cost of eligible $100 R&D expenditure can range from $24 to $42.

Not surprisingly, Montréal InVivo has already started this beginning with a partnership with the Life Science Corridor de France.

“In 2008, we signed this agreement, a partnership agreement with three regions in France, three competitiveness clusters being Lyonbiopôle, Alsace BioValley and Cancer Bio-Santé (Toulouse). These poles have grouped themselves under what they call the Life Sciences Corridor de France.

A partnership was also signed by POLE Québec Chaudiere-Appalaches, Sherbrooke and Laval. Through that agreement, our objective is to foster collaboration between our companies, our research centres and their companies and their research centres, at the same time fostering technology transfer between our universities and their companies. Not only does this partnership strengthen the life sciences in Montréal, but it does the same thing for the rest of Québec.”

Another significant international collaboration currently in the works for 2010 is a Boston bio-transfer agreement which will see Montréal InVivo members lead a trade mission to Boston. According to Savoie, if all goes well with this initiative, researchers in Québec and Montréal will get to put their technologies in front of venture capitalists in Boston.

“It’s a way to help small biotech find financial or technological partners at the international level, and get them in front of the right people,” she said.

International deals such as these wouldn’t be possible however without the three poles Québec, Sherbrooke and Montréal coming to their own collaboration agreement.

Signed September 8, the collaborative partnership with two other regions in Québec, one being the Pole Québec Chaudiere-Appalaches, the economic development agency driving the growth of the biotech industry in Québec City and the other being the Sherbrooke cluster will last three years. It is seen as not only a step towards attracting foreign investment, but also towards sharing best practices.

“The objective of that agreement is to join our forces when we promote the life science sector at the international level. Instead of only promoting the Montréal area and all the players in Montréal, now we have signed the agreement that we pulled together all the different players and present Québec as a whole at the international level. So when we attend events like BIO in the U.S. or BIO in Europe, we will present with one voice.”

Savoie indicates that the door has also been left open for the other Poles in Québec such as Rimouski and Sainte-Hyacinthe to join in the future.

She also feels that Montréal stands to benefit from the partnership especially in the case of Québec City with its 15 million square foot Metro High Tech Park, which is home to 90 companies and 5,000 employees. Likewise, the Sherbrooke health research pole boasts 200 clinical and research scientist, the research centre of Sherbrooke Geriatric University Institute, the research centre of Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, The Science and Engineering faculties of the Universite de Sherbrooke, the Sherbrooke Biotechnology Development Centre (BDC). Centre around the Sherbrooke Biomedical Park.

As it stands now it’s a model that works while providing synergy both at the municipal and provincial levels.

“I believe it’s a model that could be adopted all across Canada. Align our strategy to ensure that we have an environment that will lead to attracting and retaining more investment in our sector. Québec is a small place but I think that’s one of the reasons we are able to bring together all the different players very rapidly. I would say it’s a common desire to really grow the sector.”

Montréal

Big Pharmas
Over 80 subsidiaries of foreign
companies

Private research Centres
There are four large pharmas’ basic research centres in Montréal,
namely those of Merck Frosst,
GlaxoSmithKline, Boehringher
Ingleheim and Astra Zeneca.
The Merck Frosst research center in infectiology is the ONLY Merck
Research Centre outside USA.

Research Institutes
The NRC-Biotechnology Research Institute
The Montréal Heart Institute
The Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM)
The Montréal Neurological Institute
The Institut Armand-Frappier
McGill University (25 institutes and
research centres, six affiliated hospitals)
The Université de Montréal (24 research
centres, ten affiliated hospitals)

Genomics Research Centres
The McGill University and Genome Québec Innovation Centre
The Biotechnology Research Institute
The Centre Robert-Cedergren at
Universite de Montréal
The Québec Proteomics Centre

Technology Parks
Technoparc Saint-Laurent
The Biotech City
Angus Technopole

Business Incubator’s
The Québec Biotechnology Innovation Centre
The Health Technology Campus

Contract Research
One of the largest clusters of service providers in North America
-20 national and international contract research companies
1/3 of the Phase 1 beds in North-America

Science and Technology Platforms
Pharmacogenomics Centre
The National Immune Monitoring Laboratory
The McGill University and Genome Québec Innovation Centre

Health Technologies / Medical Devices
More than 100 private companies
World-class Research Centers
•     Polytechnique
•     École des technologies supérieures

Québec Chaudiere-Appalaches Zone

Research Institutes
The Biotechnology Centre
The CHUL Research Centre
The Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods Institute
Universite Laval
TransBioTech

Business Incubator’s
Ag-Bio Centre

Technology Parks
Metro High Tech Park

Contract Research and service providers
SFBC Anapharm
ID Biomedical Corp
AEterna Zentaris
Infectio Diagnostic
TSO3
Biopharmacopae Design International (BDI)
Bioxel Pharma
Diagnocure

Sherbrooke
Biomedical Park

Research Institutes
The Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke
The CHUS Centre de recherché
clinique (CRC)
The Institut de pharmacologie de Sherbrooke (IPS)
University Hospital Centre of
Sherbrooke
Sherbrooke Institute of Pharmacology
Agriculture Canada-Dairy and Swine Research and Development Centre

Business Incubator’s
The Sherbooke Biotechnology
Development Centre (BDC)

Contract Research and service providers
Baxter
Nova Envirocom
Diex Research
Charles River
NeXCell BioSciences
Q&T Research
Tranzyme pharma
IPST
M2 Laboratory

Saint Hyacinthe
Science Park

Technology Parks
The Saint-Hyacinthe Agri-food
Science Park

Research Institutes
The Agricultural, Horticultural and Food Technology Institute
The CEGEP de Saint-Hyacinthe
The Veterinary Medicine Faculty of the Universite de Montréal (FMV)
The Institut de biotechnologie
veterinaire et alimentaire de Saint Hyacinth (IBVA)
The Research and Development Institute for the Agri-Environment (IRDA)
The Food Research and Development Centre (FRDC)

The BAS-Saint Laurent and the Marine Biotechnology (Rimouski)

Research Institutes
The Maurice Lamontagne Institute
The Marine Biotechnology Research Centre (MBRC)
The Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski (ISMER)