Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
First, I would like to thank the committee for inviting me to participate in this meeting.
I would like to take a few minutes to talk about the importance of significantly increasing research funding in Canada, particularly for basic research. I believe that this is a key issue in maintaining and enhancing Canada's place on the world stage of health innovation.
I am a full professor at the Centre Armand‑Frappier Santé Biotechnologie of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique in Laval. I have been studying the immune response to viral infections and vaccines for over 20 years. As a result, I have been able to see a relative decrease in research funding in Canada during that period.
Basic research is an indispensable component of the development of new technologies for the prevention and treatment of disease. For example, the messenger RNA technology, which is the basis for the new COVID‑19 vaccines, grew out of developments in the design of new approaches to cancer treatment. This means that the development of innovative approaches cannot always be accelerated by targeted, problem‑specific investments, but often comes from broad investments in basic research, the potential benefits of which were often unsuspected at the outset.
The business model of the pharmaceutical industry has changed dramatically in recent decades. Large pharmaceutical companies are increasingly turning to the public and academic sectors to develop new technologies, rather than relying solely on their own research and development resources. For this reason, a rich and diverse public research ecosystem is increasingly important in the development and commercialization of innovative new treatments for patients.
The majority of biomedical research funding in Canada comes from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). According to a recent analysis by the Canadian Association for Neuroscience using CIHR data, the success rate of funding applications to CIHR open competitions has steadily declined since 2005, from a 31% success rate to less than 15% in 2018. Such a low success rate means that excellent applications are not funded and will need to be resubmitted, placing a significant additional workload on researchers and potentially even leading to the closure of successful labs, especially for researchers just starting their careers. In addition to the low success rate of CIHR projects in open competitions, applications that are funded typically see the budget reduced by more than 25%, further demonstrating the glaring lack of funding.
According to data from the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD), Canada is the only G7 country where gross domestic expenditures on research and development have been declining since 2001. It is now the second lowest in the G7 on this measure, ahead of only Italy. As an example, the per capita amount of research investment is more than three times higher in the United States than in Canada. This clearly demonstrates the considerable effort that Canada should make to become a world leader in this area.
As a contribution to the reflection on these strategic issues, I would like to propose two measures that the Government of Canada could consider in order to maximize the benefits of its investments in biomedical research. These actions are consistent with recent recommendations from the Canadian Association for Neuroscience and with the final report of the Advisory Panel on Healthcare Innovation, entitled “Unleashing Innovation: Excellent Healthcare for Canada.”
First, federal investments in basic research in Canada should be increased by 25% now, and by 10% per year for the next 10 years, in order to catch up with other G7 countries. Second, federal investments in leading‑edge research infrastructure through the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) must be continued and increased. We know that new advances in basic research require state‑of‑the‑art infrastructure. Such infrastructure entails significant operating and maintenance costs for researchers and universities. It will therefore be essential in the coming years to continue and increase CFI investments, not only in infrastructure, but also in its long‑term operating and maintenance costs.
In conclusion, the COVID‑19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of having a rich and diverse basic research ecosystem to better protect against future health crises.
Canada should make significant additional efforts to re‑establish itself, as a world leader in research and development and should invest heavily in research funding over the next decade.
Thank you. I am available to answer your questions.