Aging population could boost health care on agenda in 2015 election
In previous elections, health has not been seen to be a vote-getter, despite Canadians continuing to rank it top in their priorities or concerns, but this could change come the 2015 election due to an aging population, forcing the parties to find a place for health-care solutions amid the top planks of their platforms, […]
Biotechnology
Farmers’ seeds at centre of a debate over Agricultural Growth Act
Farmers’ seeds are at the centre of a debate over Bill C-18, the Agricultural Growth Act. Proponents say this will align Canada with its international trade partners and allow for more private innovation in food biotechnology, while opponents say it will restrict farmers’ rights to save their seeds and place ownership in the hands […]
Doctors, researchers consider Orphan Drug Act ‘mission critical’
Despite having a late start in helping people with rare diseases access orphan drugs, Canada is now exceeding and becoming a world leader in some aspects in this field, particularly in genome studies, according to some in the field. According to the government, a rare disease is a life-threatening, seriously debilitating, or serious chronic condition […]
Labelling GMOs about transparency, not health say advocates
Advocates pushing for the government to adopt mandatory labelling regulation of genetically-modified foods may have received a boost, ironically, thanks to a recent Health Canada study. On June 10, Health Canada released a report, “Consulting Canadians to Modernize and Improve Food Labels: What We Heard,” detailing what Health Canada has learned about Canadians’ priorities on […]
Biotech’s life sciences sector sees good news in CETA, but advocacy groups concerned about pharmaceutical R&D investments
The life sciences sector of the biotechnology industry considers the Canada European Free Trade Agreement, which is expected to be initialed on Sept. 25 in Ottawa, good news for pharmaceutical innovation, but advocacy groups are concerned about how a continuing decline in Canadian pharmaceutical companies investment in research and development (R&D) will be addressed […]
Feds must do more to make sure biotechnology industry ‘globally competitive,’ says industry
For biotechnology to continue to thrive in the Canadian economy an industry group says the Supreme Court of Canada has to not interfere in what the federal government is doing in lowering barriers to investment and ensuring ownership to intellectual property. Andrew Casey, president and CEO of BioteCanada, said the government’s approach to the […]
CETA will provide extended protection for pharmaceutical innovators
Biotechnology is a diverse sector within Canada’s vibrant scientific community that is turning cutting-edge research into innovative products and processes including generating new energy through biofuels and biomass, increasing crop yields, and improving health-care treatments with new biopharmaceuticals. Our government has ensured that Canada’s world-class researchers and competitive businesses thrive with targeted investments in research […]
We need a multi-decade, sustained effort to move country in right direction
We often wring our hands at the Canadian economy’s relative lack of capacity to innovate and commercialize. This is not a recent phenomenon. J.J. Brown, a historian of Canadian technology, wrote in his 1967 book, Ideas in Exile, that this was Canada’s most pressing issue, “… which leaves us increasingly weak in competition with other […]
Who decided biotech was a technology winner?
The federal government, regardless of political stripe, has a poor record of picking technology winners. Canadians essentially lost tens of billions when the giant white radioactive elephant Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) had most of its assets sold at bargain basement prices to SNC Lavalin. AECL went for $15-million, with the government pledging another […]
