You have to look at the entire life cycle for financing, particularly of health innovation. The life cycle there is 15 to 20 years on average. We have a remarkable bank of 500 small emerging companies in this country, and most of them are dedicated in the health sector. We don't commercialize well. We start small companies, foster them, get them going, and then leave them. It's then up to them to find international investment, Canadian investment, partners, and licensing agreements.
Companies in the pharmaceutical industry are key to that. They are part of that ecosystem of survival for ideas. They have the wherewithal and the global marketplace connections to allow a product into the marketplace. Bio MS, the company I cited earlier from Edmonton with leading-edge technology and Canadian know-how on multiple sclerosis, has just seen an investment by Eli Lilly of $500 million. That money will allow Bio MS to take their platform, their technology, to the global marketplace. There was no other way it could be financed. The technology would have been lost if they had not struck the partnership, thanks to their management expertise, their IT protection, and a good partnership with a company like Eli Lilly.
I think we have to understand the nature of partnership and how it works. We have to find ways to continue to respect and build that. This is not cheap technology. Times have changed. As we get better at understanding the biological machinery of every aspect of every living organism on the planet. it will take dollars to transfer that into products that make a difference to our lives.