April 9, 2005

CREATING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION IN ONTARIO

The McGuinty government is committed to creating a better quality of life for Ontario’s families by investing in research and innovation, and creating more opportunities for jobs and investment.

Government Investments

Last year, Premier Dalton McGuinty became Ontario’s first Minister of Research and Innovation.  Since then, the government has made several significant investments in Ontario’s life sciences industry including:

• More than $50 million in the MaRS Discovery District, a world-class research centre in Toronto dedicated to transforming innovative ideas into products, services and partnerships
• An additional $16.2 million this year to help support the discovery, funding and marketing of new ideas at MaRS
• $268 million over five years in the new Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, which brings together researchers from across the province to work together in the fight against cancer.

Private Sector Investments

Since creating the Ministry of Research and Innovation, several major corporations have invested in Ontario:

• U.S.-based, biopharmaceutical giant, Gilead Sciences Inc., plans to establish its Canadian headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario.
  
  Gilead Sciences discovers, develops and commercializes innovative antiviral medicines in areas of unmet medical need.  The company’s mission is to advance the care of patients suffering from life-threatening diseases worldwide.
• U.S.-based Johnson & Johnson and Toronto’s University Health Network plan to create the Development Acceleration Award.  This award will help accelerate Ontario research breakthroughs from the lab to the marketplace, including breakthroughs in diagnostics, medical devices and new therapies.  As a result, new and effective health options will be available for patients everywhere.
• London’s Robarts Research Institute is acquiring the most sophisticated pre-clinical MRI system in Canada through funding from Merck Research Laboratories and both the Ontario and federal governments.  Merck research is conducted in a broad range of therapeutic categories and the company has brought many important medicines to market.
• Sanofi Pasteur is investing $30 million to upgrade two of its existing manufacturing facilities that produce vaccines for polio and acellular pertussis ― a product that was researched and developed in Canada.  These expansion projects will significantly increase manufacturing capacity, leading to increased security of supply for the Canadian, U.S. and global markets.
• Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline Inc. announced a $23-million expansion of the company’s Mississauga facility.  In addition to the 75 new jobs created through this expansion, the company is also investing in the MaRS Discovery District.  Through this expansion, the company aims to provide more locally made medicines to patients in Ontario, across Canada and around the world.
• Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca Canada Inc. announced a $500,000 pledge to the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.  The donation, which will be matched by the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, creates a $1-million endowment.  The interest from this endowment will establish 10 annual student bursaries worth $5,000 each.