Canada’s Life Science Capital Investment Spikes Nearly 100% for 2007 to $1.6 Billion

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Written by Annette Kreuger Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry Manager for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Canada is poised to kick-off a massive effort to expand both its private and public life science infrastructure. Provinces across the country will soon be the site of various capital projects that will either expand existing facilities or build completely new ones from the ground up. A recent analysis of reported active Canadian capital and maintenance projects in the Pharmaceutical Tracker - Online Database has revealed that a total of $1.6 billion worth of activity is scheduled to kick-off in 2007. This number reflects nearly a 100% increase over 2006, when $561 million in projects began construction.

Spread over 46 individual projects, the average total investment value (TIV) of each is a healthy $35 million. However, when drilling deeper into the project data, the main catalyst for the dramatic spending spike is revealed to be the planned 2007 construction start of the massive $589 million Edmonton Clinic (Edmonton, Alberta). Originally called the Health Sciences Ambulatory Learning Centre, the 1.6 million square-foot project is modeled on the famed Mayo Clinic. Sourced from a partnership between Alberta’s Capital Health and the University of Edmonton, the clinic will integrate learning, research and patient care in one location and encompasses over 61 groups from the Health Sciences sectors, including Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Rehabilitation Medicine.

As discussed in greater detail in the newly released 2007 Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry Forecast, Canada is following a trend that is occurring across North America with the majority of projects up for construction consisting of university or government-sponsored research facilities. Back east in Ontario, advanced planning is underway for construction of the $170 million West Research Tower at the MaRS life science development district in Toronto. The federal government is also backing the $110 million International Biosafety Vaccine Center (VIDO), currently being planned for construction in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

While impressive, not all of the planned investment in Canada is from the public sector. QSV Biologics Limited is considering the construction of a project that could eventually total $100 million to expand biologics contract manufacturing capacity at their site in Edmonton, Alberta. TM Bioscience (Toronto, Ontario) is planning to invest up to $25 million to expand its diagnostics production capacity in Toronto.

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