Biotechnology & Life Sciences

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Sector Structure

Size: An estimated 4,200 persons are employed in the life sciences sector.

Dominant Activities:

• Pharmaceutical & biopharmaceutical R&D and production, including: speciality hyperimmune plasma products and recombinant therapeutic products, sustained release pharmaceuticals, monoclonal antibodies, fermentation, downstream processing and purification.

• Agricultural biotechnology, including: development of crop varieties with improved pest resistance and enhanced qualities, cereal and oilseed quality and pathology, cereal genomics, identification and extraction of high value materials from crops.

Structure & Concentration:

Manitoba is home to 41 companies operating in this sector, with 2,300 employees. Of these, five companies account for over eighty percent of the employed persons in the sector. The industry is complemented by 30 research and development establishments, representing employment of 1,900. There are 23 service firms that support the life sciences industries.

Highlights:

• Manitoba's biotechnology sector is among the fastest growing in Canada.

• Manitoba is a centre of excellence in the areas of infectious disease identification and management. A significant concentration of the province’s activities in these areas resides in the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the International Centre for Infectious Diseases.

• The industry is characterized by a strong entrepreneurial spirit, with recent start-ups representing more than one-third of existing companies.

• Manitoba is home to the only biopharmaceutical manufacturing activity in Western Canada – centred around Cangene Corporation, Apotex Fermentation, Biovail and Vita Health.

• Winnipeg’s Cangene Corporation is a world leader in specialty hyper-immune plasma and biotechnology products -- in particular, research and production of antibody products which aid in the fight against some of the world’s most deadly biothreats.

• Biovail Corporation’s manufacturing facility in Steinbach, Manitoba holds the world-wide manufacturing mandate for Biovail’s slow-release drug products, including Wellbutrin XL.

• The National Research Council’s Institute for Biodiagnostics, in Winnipeg, is the most advanced facility in Canada for studying and developing non-invasive diagnostic tools such as NMR and MRI technologies.

• The Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health is the first and only global centre with level 4 bio-containment capability for the study of both human and animal disease.

• Manitoba enjoys a global leadership position in the development of cereal and oilseed crop varieties. The University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences is recognized for the leading role it played in developing canola. The Cereal Research Centre, located at the University, is Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s lead centre for cereal genomics. The three institutions are part of the Manitoba Agri-Health Research Network.

• Manitoba and the U.S. state of Minnesota have created a north/south Biosciences Corridor between their jurisdictions. This partnership supports the mid-continent Knowledge Corridor, which extends south from Manitoba to Monterrey, Mexico.

Sector Capabilities

Areas of Focus: Infectious Diseases, Cardiovascular & Respiratory Diseases, Oncology, Neuroscience, Metabolism & Nutrition, Nutraceuticals & Functional Foods, Cell Biology & Gene Technology, Plant Breeding, Diagnostics, Contract Research.

Examples of Existing Technological Capabilities

Metabolic engineering	Bacterial fermentation	Conventional & hybrid breeding
Bioinformatics	Molecular mapping	Marker-assisted gene selection
Gene expression analysis	Proteomics	Level 3 & 4 biocontainment
Oligonucleotide synthesis	Gene cloning	Biological mass spectrometry
Controlled Environments	Quality traits	Product development
Crop quality analysis	Transformation	Insects & disease management
Molecular mapping	Genomics	Marker assisted gene selection
Plant & animal breeding	Physiological stress	Nutraceuticals & functional foods

Competitive Strengths

• Dynamic and cooperative industry cluster -- Manitoba’s industry is complemented and supported by a strong research infrastructure comprised of world-class university and government laboratories and research institutes. Of particular significance are the synergies that the industry is able to achieve between biotechnological research in agriculture and health.

• Low factor costs -- T he industry benefits from low cost, high-quality agricultural commodities, low occupancy and operating costs, a generous R&D tax credit program, and a well-educated workforce. An affordable and high quality of life helps companies and institutions to attract talent.

• Highly Productive Agricultural Resource Base -- Manitoba's soils and climatic conditions make it ideally suited for the production of a wide range of crops.

Key Players

• Apotex Fermentation Inc.
• Biovail Corp.
• Brett Young Seeds Ltd.
• Cangene Corporation
• Controlled Environments Ltd.
• Monsanto Canada Inc.
• Medicure Inc.
• Vita Health
• Viventia Biotech Inc.

For More Information

• E-mail: lifesciencesinquiries@gov.mb.ca
• Web: www.manitobalifesciences.ca

Related Links

• Environmental Industries Sector
• Manitoba Business Facts
• Manitoba Companies Directory
• Business and the Environment
• Business of Science Symposium