Pamela Fralick, president of Innovative Medicines Canada, photographed in Ottawa in June 2020.Supplied
If there’s one industry Canadians are paying attention to in 2020, it’s the pharmaceutical sector. We’re all invested in the search for a vaccine against COVID-19 and have a newfound understanding of how important it is to develop new treatments and medicines for chronic illnesses—though for many of us, the nuts and bolts of the industry are a bit of a mystery. But Innovative Medicines Canada is hoping to change that. The voice of research-based pharmaceutical companies, IMC works to support pharmaceutical companies in discovering, developing and commercializing new medicines and vaccines. As a result of this work, Innovative Medicine Canada member companies make significant contributions to the country’s economy: they generate $19 billion in economic activity, invest $1.2 billion annually (10% of revenues) into R&D, and support 30,000 high-value jobs. We chatted with IMC’s president, Pamela Fralick, about Canada’s history of breakthroughs, how its member companies are responding to COVID-19 and what needs to happen to keep this sector strong.
How does Canada’s innovative pharmaceutical industry lead the world in research and development of lifesaving drugs?
Currently, there are more than 500 new products in development in Canada, including therapies focused on cancer treatments, infectious diseases and vaccines. These products have the potential to help not just Canadians, but people all over the world to lead longer, healthier lives. Our members are also collaborating like never before – with one another, with governments at all levels and with stakeholders and research institutions – to discover treatments for COVID-19 and vaccines to stop its spread. The way in which our industry has responded to the challenge, and the progress they are making, is a reminder of just how important the innovative medicines sector is not just to Canada, but to the world.
Canada always raises insulin as a homegrown pharmaceutical breakthrough, but that happened in 1922. What new breakthroughs can inspire pride in Canadians?
Canada’s contribution to medical discoveries is much broader than just insulin, as world-changing as that discovery was. More recently, Canadian researchers have also discovered the existence of stem cells, developed an Ebola vaccine, which represents a great Canadian scientific effort and international collaboration that spanned almost two decades, and developed a vaccine that has prevented Alzheimer’s disease in mice, which will hopefully have significant implications for humans.
Canada’s contribution to medical discoveries is much broader than just insulin, as world-changing as that discovery was.
— Pamela Fralick, President, Innovative Medicines Canada
Most of the major research-based pharmaceutical companies are members of Innovative Medicines Canada. Can you tell us some of the ways your members have responded to the current healthcare crisis?
Our members have responded in remarkable ways. In addition to collaborating like never before to accelerate the discovery, development, manufacture and delivery of treatments for people infected with the virus, and vaccines to stop its spread, our members are contributing in many other ways. Innovative Medicines Canada also raised funds for much-needed personal protective equipment for Canada’s frontline workers, sourcing and donating 100,000 N95 masks to the Public Health Agency of Canada and helping the Canadian Pharmacists Association purchase 200,000 surgical masks for pharmacists across the country. Finally, we created and funded a new Research Chair in Pandemic Preparedness, awarded to Dr. Srinivas Murthy, of UBC and BC Children’s Hospital.
What are the challenges in 2020 for Canada’s innovative pharmaceutical sector?
We know Canada has some of the best researchers and scientists in the world, and a vibrant life-sciences sector. While we’re working hard to continue medical research and development in our country, the reality is Canada only attracts approximately one per cent find new innovative medicines and vaccines which offer hope to all Canadians.
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