February 2, 2026
Read article originally published in The Hill Times
By: Michelle McLean
Life sciences innovation is not just about saving lives; it is an economic growth engine. Breakthroughs in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and digital health strengthen a healthy, productive workforce, attract top talent and spur economic growth and development. This sector can lead Canada’s innovation economy and balance our traditional strengths in manufacturing and natural resources, but we need a vision and roadmap that rallies the sector and government around shared priorities and guides needed government investments. In a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape, as Canada looks for new opportunities and nation-building strategies to build a stronger, more resilient economy, we urgently need an industrial policy for life sciences.
The scale of the opportunity is clear. Canada’s life sciences and bio-economy sector is a major employer, with approximately 200,000 people employed across 12,000 organizations in 2019, but the sector expects 65,000 new jobs will be needed by 2029. The sector contributes about 2 per cent, or $82.1 billion, to GDP each year, but its potential is often estimated to be much higher. Demand for research, products and services generated by the life sciences sector is projected to grow in line with the needs of the healthcare sector, at a rate of 10% annually over the next decade.
Yet, while Canada is globally recognized for excellence in biomedical research and genomics, we rank 17th out of the top 25 innovative countries. Even with more than 2,000 life sciences companies, more than double many higher-ranking peers, we still struggle to realize the full potential of our life sciences industry.
Canada once led in clinical trials, the cornerstone of modern life sciences strategies and the bridge from biomedical innovation to patient care and economic growth, but we are losing ground fast. Denmark’s rise of Novo Nordisk, fuelled in part by Ozempic based on a Canadian discovery, and Australia’s national clinical trial strategy that has attracted more than $1 billion in foreign investment show what happens when countries move quickly with a unified plan. Canadian innovators now take trials and scale-up opportunities to the United States or Europe for faster start-up, and clearer commercialization and procurement pathways. Each move costs Canada high value jobs, IP, domestic manufacturing and tax revenue, plus early access to new therapies.
Canadian technologies developed through publicly funded research often struggle to secure a domestic first customer. That slows scale-up, weakens IP and company retention, and reduces returns on public investment. Even when breakthroughs emerge, health systems often buy imported solutions. The CAN Health Network, supported by federal funding, is closing this gap. It has backed over 100 Canadian companies and 130 commercialization projects, generating about $700 million in revenue and 2,400 jobs, with an 80 percent pilot-to-procurement success rate, but more of this type of effort is needed. More investment alone is not the solution. What Canada is sorely missing is an industrial policy that can help take our life sciences sector to the next level on the global stage.
Budget 2025 promised $1.7 billion to recruit 1,000 top global researchers and doctoral/post-doctoral fellows to Canadian universities and research hospitals but without specific incentives such as tax credits, grants, regulatory support, and market exclusivity like in the EU, Japan and Australia, the potential for both retention of talent and return on investment will be lost.
The building blocks for a dominant life sciences sector are already in place, but Canada must move quickly to establish its global leadership. The last Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy was released in 2021 on the heels of the pandemic and did not result in needed policy changes or alignment of federal departments and investments. In contrast, other top-tier countries place life sciences at the centre of industrial strategies and align the sector with talent, trade, research and development, innovation and infrastructure.
We need a life sciences industrial policy that leverages our strengths, takes into account recent geopolitical challenges and opportunities and creates a roadmap for success for our researchers and innovators, our healthcare system, our life sciences economy and ultimately the country.
Michelle McLean
President and CEO, HealthCareCAN
HealthCareCAN is the national voice of hospitals, health authorities, health research institutes, and healthcare organizations across Canada.