Translational Research: A Catalyst for Canada’s Life Sciences Renaissance

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, a vaccine was developed in just a year, showcasing modern science’s extraordinary speed and capabilities. This rapid development was based on decades of multidisciplinary research, global collaboration, and underscored the critical importance of investment in the entire continuum of health research – from bench to bedside. It also highlighted the need for continued funding for translational research – a critical step in advancing new healthcare innovations into the trial process.

While we often talk of research done in the laboratory and findings brought to clinical trials or the “bedside”, we hear less about what happens between these two. Translational research – developing discoveries into treatments and interventions that can be used in clinical settings, is inherently multidisciplinary and complex. As the pandemic response demonstrated, it involves collaboration among basic scientists, clinical researchers, and healthcare professionals, and integrates knowledge from various fields such as biology, chemistry, biomanufacturing, and medicine. Due to these complexities, translational research is often dubbed the research “valley of death,” and presents an obstacle in health care innovation due to a lack of funding, resources, and support to move early-stage research through the stages of development, regulatory approval, and market readiness.

Learning from the pandemic, Canada has taken steps to support our ability to respond to future threats by elaborating the Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy (BLSS) and investing in biomanufacturing and clinical trials. These investments are not just about preparing for the next health crisis, but positioning Canada as a life sciences leader. They demonstrate that funding translational research – as done through the pandemic – can result in treatments that that are brought to the bedside more quickly, improving patient outcomes and delivering economic benefits. But more is needed.

Canada needs to learn from the outcomes of the pandemic response and build a vision that underpins our entire life sciences funding strategy. This vision demands more than building facilities and supporting the clinical trials that are part of translational research; it requires sustained investment and a strategic approach to maintain readiness and innovation during non-crisis periods. Funding translational research, which bridges the gap between laboratory discoveries and clinical applications, is essential to achieving this goal. It ensures that scientific breakthroughs translate into real-world treatments benefiting patients, boosting the economy, and supporting our companies. Organizing funding and coordinating activities that are tailor-made to address the unique gaps in the Canadian life sciences ecosystem can accelerate and mitigate the risks of passing through the “valley of death.”

Where to start? While translational research requires extensive and complex multidisciplinary collaboration and cooperation, federally funded BioCanRx has demonstrated its unique approach to supporting the cancer immunotherapy research community across Canada can deliver tangible results. This model offers a visionary way forward that can be applied across health care research ecosystem – with the necessary investment commitments from a variety of areas including the Federal Government.

Building on Success – The BioCanRx Model

Cancer takes four times as many Canadian lives as COVID-19. Nearly half of Canadians are expected to be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes, and almost 25% will die from it. Canada’s cancer research funders invest approximately $500M annually; this figure has remained largely unchanged over the past decade in line with the state of overall research investment in Canada (excluding private sector). This amount represents 2% of the overall annual cost of cancer to the Canadian economy, estimated at $26.2 billion in 2021, with 30% of costs being carried by patients and their families.

The Canadian Cancer Research Alliance (CCRA), tracks investments in the cancer research ecosystem in Canada. Our analysis of CCRA studies has demonstrated that cancer research funders have concentrated their investments in early-stage research. This, combined with the very high costs related to biologics development, has created a funding and expertise gap between traditional Government/NGO-supported research and the biotech/pharmaceutical industry – preventing the transfer of novel biotherapies based on Canadian research out of Canadian labs. The result? Canadian made discoveries typically move up the value chain in the USA or elsewhere. We do not reap the economic benefit from our cancer research investments and many Canadian patients don’t benefit from early access to novel biotherapeutics via clinical trials.

The numbers tell the story: while Canada is able to capture 4% of global clinical trials and is the G7 leader in clinical trial productivity (number of trials/population), we are still unable to translate our own discoveries into innovations. Only 4% of all cancer immunotherapy trials in Canada are based on home-grown innovation (clinicaltrials.gov, April 2002-July 2024). Remarkably, this represents a substantial improvement over past data—fewer than 1% of cancer immunotherapy trials were based on Canadian innovation from 2002 to 2015.

Amid this, BioCanRx, Canada’s Immunotherapy Network, has emerged as a leader in translating cutting-edge cancer immunotherapies from research to clinical trials. Our work has already led to life-saving treatments like the made-in-Canada CAR T-cell therapy, which has transformed lives across the nation. We are also moving the needle on our home-grown clinical trial performance: since our inception in 2015, 41% of cancer immunotherapy trials are directly attributable to our translational research program.

The impact of BioCanRx in Canadian immunotherapy for cancer research demonstrates the benefits of adopting a whole-of-ecosystem approach in Canada, funding the entire health research continuum, including translational research. This approach is crucial not only for responding to future health crises but for capitalizing on our scientific discoveries. The recent $38 million funding from the Government of Canada’s Strategic Science Fund to BioCanRx is a step in the right direction. However, more substantial and sustained investments in other areas of the life sciences sector are needed to support the translation of research into widespread clinical practice thereby benefiting patients and maintaining Canada’s competitive edge in the global bioscience economy.

The Covid 19 pandemic provided the Canadian life sciences sector with a much-needed boost. It demonstrated the sector’s critical role in both health and economic well-being and the need to continue rebuilding. Canada’s Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy (BLSS), and investments like those made by the Strategic Science Fund to support BioCanRx are excellent first-steps, but also highlight that more needs to be done.

Organizations like BioCanRx exemplify the potential of coordinated efforts to drive economic and health benefits. Expanding this model to other research areas can – and will – enhance the productivity and innovation of Canada’s health research sector. Increased collaboration among stakeholders—scientists, clinicians, academic institutions, NGOs, and industry partners—is vital for a competitive bioeconomy.

For Canada to continue to grow and benefit from life science innovations, we need to change culture around funding translational research and push for greater investment so that it becomes the norm, not the exception. It is only by taking more shots on the net that Canada can begin to build the rich life science sector that Canadians deserve and expect, improving the lives of citizens while boosting Canada’s global economic competitiveness.