Strengthening British Columbia's life sciences sector by supporting projects that advance emerging Canadian technologies and enhance the innovation ecosystem
Today, the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, announced a combined $127 million in Strategic Response Fund (SRF) contributions to support two major life sciences projects from Aspect Biosystems and Providence Health Care (PHC) in Vancouver, British Columbia. A stronger life sciences sector means creating and supporting good jobs for Canadians, investing in cutting-edge innovation and ensuring long-term economic growth for Canada.
The Government of Canada is contributing $79 million to support Aspect Biosystems, a Vancouver-based biotechnology company pioneering the development of bioprinted tissue therapeutics. The Province of British Columbia has also supported Aspect Biosystems with $23.8 million to help them expand. To further support the growth of Canada's life sciences ecosystem, the government is also investing $48 million in Providence Health Care, a non-profit health care network that provides health services and operates 18 facilities, including St. Paul's Hospital, a renowned Vancouver-based acute care, teaching and research hospital. PHC is currently undertaking the construction of a health care campus consisting of the new St. Paul's Hospital and Clinical Support and Research Centre (CSRC).
Aspect Biosystems is developing a new category of regenerative medicine designed to restore or supplement biological functions in the body and deliver functional cures for serious metabolic and endocrine diseases, including diabetes. These advanced therapies are developed using Aspect's industry-leading platform, which integrates proprietary AI-powered bioprinting technology, stem cells, hypoimmune cell engineering and advanced biomaterials. The Government of Canada is deepening its partnership with Aspect Biosystems through a new $280 million project that will strengthen the company's clinical development and biomanufacturing capabilities, enhance its AI-powered platform and accelerate its path to commercialization. These capabilities will help anchor commercial-scale manufacturing in Canada and reinforce the country's leadership in bioprinted tissue therapeutics, and the company is expected to maintain 117 jobs and to create 283 new well-paying jobs, for a total of 400 jobs, and create 268 student co-op positions in the Vancouver region. This project leverages Aspect Biosystems' strategic partnership with Novo Nordisk, which integrates its cell therapy capabilities into Aspect's innovative therapeutic platform for the development of potentially transformative new therapeutics.
PHC's project includes developing an innovation hub within the new CSRC, which will be directly connected via a skybridge to the new St. Paul's Hospital on the Jim Pattison Medical Campus. The CSRC's innovation hub will include core components such as data platforms and services, a clinical trials unit, a simulation centre, wet labs and an innovation centre. The hub is strategically designed to accelerate R&D and partnerships, as well as position PHC as a leader in data-driven health care innovation, equipped with AI-enabled clinical research environments for patient monitoring and data analysis.
PHC's hub will create an incubator space for the development of new technologies and the scaling up of promising small and medium-sized companies. The innovation hub will also serve as a collaborative space accessible to partner organizations, Canadian life science companies and the Government of Canada, strengthening the country's capacity to respond to future health emergencies. The organization will maintain 6,662 jobs and create 768 new well-paying full-time jobs, for a total of 7,430 full-time jobs, and it will create 597 co-op positions for students in the Vancouver region.
Canada is well positioned to be at the forefront of groundbreaking innovation, and the Government of Canada will invest strategically to leverage our country's strengths in science. Through the SRF, the government is strengthening Canada's domestic capacity to develop and manufacture innovative health solutions. Investing in next-generation biomedical technologies is essential to positioning our country as a global leader in emerging areas of biotechnology and medical research. Strengthening Canada's health emergency resilience through targeted investments is an important priority in the recently announced Defence Industrial Strategy. Growing Canada's life sciences sector is essential to the government's plan to transform the Canadian economy from reliance to resilience.
