Industry Committee on April 8th, 2022

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Michael Kram]

Thank you very much, Mr. Technow.

Our next witness is Dr. Gerdts from VIDO-InterVac.

Dr. Gerdts, you have six minutes.

[Dr. Volker Gerdts, Director and Chief Executive Officer, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization - International Vaccine Centre]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and committee members.

My name is Volker Gerdts. I'm the director of VIDO, which stands for the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, a research institute here at the University of Saskatchewan. We're on Treaty No. 6 territory and the homeland of the Métis.

We operate one of Canada's and the world's largest high-containment research institutes for infectious diseases and vaccine development. We have about 170 researchers from more than 28 countries. More than 50% of them are female, and 40% of our research staff represent visible minorities.

VIDO is funded through an MSI grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation. That means 60% of our operating funding for parts of our facility—for parts, not for the whole—comes from CFI.

VIDO has been leading Canada's response to COVID. We were the first in the country to isolate the virus and then distribute it to all diagnostic labs in the country. We were the first in Canada to have an animal model established and the first university with a vaccine in clinical trials. It is now in trials in Africa, in Uganda, and is also entering a trial here in Canada for booster studies, using our vaccine as a boost to already authorized vaccines. During the last two years, we worked with almost 100 companies from all around the world to find and test their solutions, whether vaccines, therapeutics or antivirals for this disease.

The organization overall receives support, as I mentioned, from CFI, but also from the Government of Saskatchewan. During the pandemic in particular, we received funding from ISED for our vaccine research but also to develop a manufacturing facility here, in-house. This is, of course, what we are talking about today.

VIDO is currently building an in-house manufacturing facility that will enable us to manufacture both human and animal vaccines. What's very unique about our facility is that it's connected into our containment. It's one of a handful in the whole world that will be able to make vaccines for those pathogens that require higher levels of containment, often referred to as “high consequence” pathogens.

Construction of the facility is almost complete. It will be commissioned by the fall of this year. We're anticipating that we'll be able to start production in Q4 of 2022.

This facility can produce a variety of technologies, including the RNA vaccines. It can also make biovector vaccines, live vaccines, some mammalian cell-based vaccines and subunit vaccines. VIDO's vaccine is a subunit protein vaccine. We envision that, in principle, depending on which technology, our facility can make as many as 40 million doses a year. However, it is a pilot-scale manufacturing facility, which is really driven to quickly drive innovation from the discovery stage and get it quickly into clinical trials.

VIDO is part of and a pillar in Canada's life sciences and biomanufacturing strategy. We are happy to support the strategy as outlined in there. That includes, for example, the training mission. We have a number of graduate students who are being trained not only in the discovery science but now also in manufacturing and the operation of the facility. We think it is critical, as we look forward and prepare for the future, to have the skills, as we just heard from Mr. Technow, and the skilled workers to operate these facilities.

As a side note, during the pandemic we had to recruit over 30 researchers who were able to work in high containment with a virus. It takes usually six months from recruiting a person to getting them to be comfortable working with a potentially lethal virus in the lab.

Lastly, VIDO received funding in last year's budget—not yesterday's budget but the one last year—to take on the role as Canada's centre for pandemic research. As part of that, we have received funding from the Government of Canada, the Government of Saskatchewan, the City of Saskatoon and many private and corporate donors to expand our capacity. We're upgrading our containment space to the highest level, to containment level four, thereby doubling Canada's capacity for high containment. We're building a new animal facility, which will enable us to work all year round with those species from which we see these diseases emerge. As I mentioned, we're also about to open our manufacturing facility.

All of that will allow us to bring the world's best researchers to Canada and attract companies to Canada that will use this infrastructure in the future to make sure that Canada will never find itself in a situation like we did two years ago.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Michael Kram]

Thank you very much, Dr. Gerdts.

Our next witness, appearing as an individual, is Dr. Lamarre.

Dr. Lamarre, you have six minutes.

[Dr. Alain Lamarre, Full Professor, Institut national de la recherche scientifique, As an Individual]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First of all, I would like to thank the committee for inviting me to take part in this meeting. The topic you are discussing is essential to ensuring our national security, responding to the COVID‑19 pandemic and, above all, preparing to cope with future pandemics.

I am a professor at the Centre Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique, or INRS, in Laval. I have been conducting research on antiviral immune response for more than 30 years, as well as on the development of vaccines and immunotherapies. I am therefore particularly interested in today's subject.

Canada currently doesn't have enough vaccine production capacity to meet its needs. I would include biologics such as monoclonal antibodies and immunotherapies in that category. As a result of this insufficient production capacity, Canadians are at the mercy of a form of protectionism practised by countries that produce vaccines and other biologics. In recent months, Canada has begun to make substantial investments to restore its national production capacity. However, an even greater effort will have to be made in the next few years to rebuild an ecosystem that is rich and diversified at all stages of the vaccine development chain.

I welcome, for example, the investments being made at the NRC's biologics manufacturing centre in Montreal and at the Medicago corporation in Quebec City, which has developed the only vaccine manufactured in Canada and approved by Health Canada. Major investments have also been made in other private companies across the country. In addition, new projects are in development, including construction of the next biologics and vaccine production infrastructure by SmokePond Biologics here in Laval. These investments have already begun to produce results, but they must continue and expand in future.

Note that Canada ranks last among the G‑7 countries in research and development spending. On a percentage basis, for example, Canada invests half as much in technology and R&D as the United States. Consequently, the measures the federal government announced in the 2022 budget yesterday for the creation of a Canada growth fund of $15 billion over five years is a step in the right direction. That will help leverage private investors to restructure supply chains, for example, which I think should also include biologics, vaccines and personal protection equipment.

I think it will be important for the federal government to invest substantial sums in three specific sectors to consolidate its investments and maximize the potential impact on vaccine production.

First, it should continue and increase federal investment in basic research in Canada. Basic research is an essential component in developing new technologies pertaining to vaccination and health in general. It will therefore be important to increase research funding. Unfortunately, however, I see that no mention is made in the 2022 budget of any significant increase in the budgets of the federal granting councils. I believe an increase in the order of 10% per year over the next 10 years will be appropriate if we want to return to our role as a global leader.

Second, I think we should continue and increase federal investment in advanced research infrastructure through the Canadian foundation for innovation. As we just saw, it's an essential partner for the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, or VIDO, which invests in highly advanced technology infrastructure. It will be critical in the coming years that we continue and increase investment not only in infrastructure, but also in the funding of long-term operating and maintenance costs in order to maximize the impact of those investments.

Third, we should establish a vaccine development funding structure that would bridge the gap between academic research and the pharmaceutical industry. A rich and diversified public research ecosystem is increasingly important for the development and commercialization of new and innovative treatments and vaccines for patients.

As regards the commercialization of innovations emerging from university labs, government investment should assist in advancing the clinical development of vaccine candidates and promising immunotherapies until they are mature enough to attract global pharmaceutical companies and those companies then invest in their large-scale production and distribution.

To conclude, Canada needs to do more to position itself internationally in the biomanufacturing field, to be able to combat COVID‑19 and other future pandemics.

Thank you, and I am ready to answer your questions.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Michael Kram]

Thank you very much, Dr. Lamarre.

Our final witness is Mr. Andrew Casey from BIOTECanada.

Mr. Casey, you have six minutes.

[Andrew Casey, President and Chief Executive Officer, BIOTECanada]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the committee for this opportunity to provide input into the study.

By way of introduction, BIOTECanada is the national association that represents Canada's biotech industry. Our 240 members stretch across the country. They include the large multinational pharmaceutical companies, many of which are in the vaccine development and manufacturing capacity. Also, most of our members are the early-stage biotech companies that have good ideas that are coming out of our university labs or research institutes, but they're trying to commercialize, trying to get out into the marketplace. We have a diverse, robust membership. It includes BioVectra and VIDO, both of which have testified here today.

As I was preparing for this session I reflected that it was exactly a year ago to this day that I had my first vaccine shot. If you think back to the early days of the pandemic, back in March 2020, the earliest predicted time frame for getting vaccines was three to five years out. That we were able to start putting them into arms about a year ago is a remarkable scientific feat. I think that needs to be recognized. That we're even having this discussion today about how to prepare for the next one with vaccines and developing biomanufacturing capacity is truly remarkable. It's a testament to science. It's a testament to this industry and the work it's done, and full credit, as well, to our regulators, including Health Canada and the innovation department at ISED.

Also, there is Canadian biotechnology in one of those vaccines. It's important to recognize that the Pfizer vaccine has the Acuitas technology, which is the lipid envelope within which the mRNA coding is put into the body. The Canadian industry, the biotech industry, has played a really important role in delivering on some of these vaccines.

We're not out of this mess. We still have a lot of work to be done. I think we've heard from some of the companies today of the important role they're going to play in addressing some of these challenges coming up, including Medicago, which was discussed in the earlier session.

I think it's very prudent, though, to start to prepare for the possibility, the very real possibility, that there is going to be a COVID-40 or a COVID-50. You can pick your year and I'll use COVID as an example. It is not necessarily going to be another COVID-like challenge, but we do have to prepare. I think most governments around the world were caught off guard by the pandemic. There's a recognition that they don't want to be doing this on an ad hoc basis going forward. It makes sense to prepare for the next one and invest heavily.

Thankfully, in Canada, as we've seen from the companies that presented today, we have a very robust ecosystem here upon which to build. As you heard from the panel earlier, with the officials from the government, significant investments have come forward from the government to enhance and grow that capacity. We're building on some fantastic companies in this country, including BioVectra, including VIDO, including Medicago and others. There are some great partnerships, as well, between Sanofi Pasteur and the government, and also Moderna. You've seen the growth in the NRC facility. Those are some very significant investments as well. We are in a very good position. We're building on something that's a very strong foundation.

If I had some advice for the committee—and I'll leave it at this—there are a couple of things. One is that we don't know what the next challenge is going to be. It's very hard to predict what the next solution is going to be. If we had this discussion five years ago I'm not so sure we would have chosen mRNA vaccines as the solution. We have to be very careful about what we're putting all of our bets on.

The second thing is that it is imperative that we increase the number of shots on net. The growth of the ecosystem is going to be really important. That ecosystem includes all components, not only the early-stage companies and the ones that are existing but also the multinational companies, which are a very important part of that ecosystem, working closely together.

The other part is that we have to look at this as not just an “in case of an emergency” situation. Let's hope this is not going to happen for another 30 or 40 years, but what do you do with those investments in between? It's like with Olympic athletes. You don't just participate every four years; you train in between. We have to do likewise. Whatever these investments are, they have to be connected into the existing ecosystem to grow it and to leverage those strengths.

The last piece, which I think is really important—and it's been mentioned a couple of times by my colleagues—is talent. We have to grow our talent pool here. This is a global challenge. Every country has its elbows up. They're going to looking to steal our people. We have to attract talent. We have to keep talent. This is going to be absolutely paramount.

We have a really strong foundation upon which to build. The investments are solid. They're going to really support the growth of the industry. I'm encouraged by that, but if we don't work collectively and understand where it's all going, we're going to be in a bit more trouble.

I will leave it there. I look forward to questions from the committee. Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Michael Kram]

Thank you very much, Mr. Casey and all of our witnesses, for your very informative presentations.

We'll now move on to the question and answer portion.

Our first questioner is Monsieur Deltell from the Conservative Party.

You have six minutes.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you so much, Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for their excellent testimony.

My first question is for Dr. Lamarre.

Good afternoon and thank you for being here.

You spoke about the funds invested in recent years, particularly to deal with the COVID‑19 pandemic, and about how successful we have been. As a Quebecker and a resident of Quebec City, I was proud that a company in my city made a name for itself by creating a new vaccine.

I was nevertheless surprised and disappointed when the World Health Organization, the WHO, did not recognize the vaccine.

How did you react when you learned that the vaccine developed in Canada wasn't recognized by the WHO?

[Dr. Alain Lamarre]

It came as a surprise to me, as it did for many others. My understanding of the situation is that neither the efficacy nor the safety of the Medicago vaccine were at issue. It was rather the company's links to a tobacco manufacturer.

The WHO position was known, and is defensible from a world health standpoint.

I believe that Medicago and the government will have to work with their financial partners to find a solution that would be acceptable to the WHO. They will have to ensure that the Medicago vaccine, which has yielded excellent results in clinical studies, obtains the approval of the WHO. The vaccine could then be used within the COVAX mechanism and distributed to countries that still need large supplies of vaccines. In Canada, there is less need, but it's still very important elsewhere on the planet.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

I'm pleased to hear you speak about the quality of the research and the product. That's what we found so disappointing, to put it mildly. We have all kinds of talent and quality products here that could be marketed. Millions of lives could have been saved by inspired Canadian engineering and efforts.

Unfortunately, we can't move forward because of an administrative formality.

You said earlier that the WHO's position was known, and that it was defensible. I don't have any personal position on that, but given the urgency of the situation and the importance of the research and repercussions worldwide, do you, as an experienced researcher and academic, believe that the WHO could have or should have made its rules more flexible?

[Dr. Alain Lamarre]

I do in fact believe that the WHO's position is defensible.

Would the WHO be willing to change its rules? Perhaps not, but it's not too late to act, knowing that other investors, or even the federal government, could take over the cigarette manufacturer's stake. I don't believe the game is completely lost. There may be room for negotiations with the WHO, which could soften the rule for pandemics. Whether it will do it is another matter.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

I'm going to continue this line of discussion.

In the previous testimony, we learned that the government was aware of the WHO rules from the outset, and about the shared ownership of the company. Everyone knew about it.

I may not be an expert in this field, but I was surprised and terribly disappointed. That's as much as I can say in polite language.

What do you think about the fact that everyone knew, but that no one did anything?

[Dr. Alain Lamarre]

I think we'll have to go back to the early days of the company. In passing, I'm not involved in any way with this company. I have no shares in the company and no particular axe to grind about what it does.

Based on what I know, in the early start‑up phases of any project, you tend to take whatever capital might be on offer.

In this instance, I would imagine that Philip Morris International felt there was an affinity of some kind with the plant being used to manufacture the vaccine. The plant is in the same family as tobacco, and this meant an affinity for the company.

I'm not going to cast the first stone at Medicago, because I'm aware of what it's like to start up a biotechnology company. At the outset, Medicago was a small biotech company that got its start in the university community. It grew and needed capital to develop. I don't think Medicago was wrong to do so. This was the capital that enabled it to develop.

Later on in the vaccine's development, could the actuarial structure of the company have been reviewed, knowing that the WHO would apply this provision? That's an important question that needs to be asked.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Michael Kram]

Thank you very much, Dr. Lamarre and Monsieur Deltell.

Next, from the Liberal Party, we have Mr. Fillmore for six minutes.

Mr. Fillmore, the floor is yours.

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to the witness panel today for sharing your time and experiences with us.

I'd like to direct my questions to the team from Charlottetown today, if I could, the BioVectra team.

I noticed, Mr. Technow, on the website.... I've spent some time on your website today. Back in November, you had an announcement about the development of a new mRNA production facility. There was a beautiful photograph with Minister Champagne and Charlottetown MP Sean Casey.

I wondered if you could tell us about the arc, the journey that you're on with this facility, where you're now and how the federal government has been able to assist along that journey.

[Oliver Technow]

Thank you for the question.

As you've said, Mr. Fillmore, the start of this [Technical difficulty—Editor].

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Michael Kram]

I wonder if Dr. Sauer might want to step in. It appears that Mr. Technow's camera is frozen.

[Dr. Marc Sauer, Vice-President, Process Science and Development Services, BioVectra Inc.]

Absolutely.

As you mentioned, in November we announced the expansion of our facility into mRNA vaccine manufacturing, as well as the establishment of a state-of-the-art process development facility to go with it. We're currently at the phase where we have.... In early 2022, we started the construction on the development areas and facilities. We will actually break ground this Thursday on the mRNA vaccine facility in Charlottetown.

We're currently foreseeing a time frame of about 12 months to get this to conclusion. At that point, we will go into equipment qualification, and then we'll be ready to transfer first projects into the facility.

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

Thanks, Dr. Sauer.

This is going to be an important part of BioVectra's ability to face whatever the next seven-year cycle brings us in terms of a pandemic.

Are you facing any other hurdles in terms of fill and finish, or production capacity? Is there anything else that would stand between you today and being able to address whatever the next pandemic might be?

[Dr. Marc Sauer]

No, fill-finish is going to be part of the expansion.... I'm sorry. I'm hearing an echo. I hope it's just me.

Fill-finish is going to be a part of the expansion, so the investment into the project, as the project itself, was meant to be a complete end-to-end solution for the development and production of mRNA vaccines and therapies. In this case, we wouldn't see any hurdles that wouldn't allow us to be a complete offer for said vaccines.

I think Mr. Fulton pointed out that the supply chain has been strained over the past two years, but in this case, for us, we were able to secure partnerships with key suppliers of the equipment that would be needed to get the facility up in time.

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

Thanks, Dr. Sauer.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Technow mentioned that you have the main facility in Charlottetown. There's now a facility in Windsor, Nova Scotia, and I think he mentioned a new facility in Halifax.

I know this is a complex manufacturing process. I wonder if you could just elucidate on what the role of the three locations are. Of course, I'm particularly happy to hear about the Halifax location, being that I represent Halifax.

Thank you.

[Dr. Marc Sauer]

Of course.

Charlottetown is our headquarters. We have operated out of this site for the past 50 years. For the mRNA vaccine expansion, it allowed us to act quickly because it is not a greenfield expansion there, so we were able to build it onto the existing facility. We are in a position to use utilities that are already in place, which also cuts down on the total time to get this up and running.

Windsor, Nova Scotia, is our headquarters for biologic therapeutics. We are expanding it to bring on single-use, clinical-scale operational equipment that would allow us to not only produce commercial but also materials that are needed for either smaller patient populations or clinical trials.

Halifax will be our new home for the state-of-the-art process development centre. We will move most of our development teams out of the Windsor facility to Halifax and then establish there a truly remarkable facility for development, discovery and also characterization.

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

Bravo. I'm very glad to hear that.

Mr. Chair, is there another minute?

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Michael Kram]

You're right at time.

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

Dr. Sauer, thank you very much.

Please give my thanks to Mr. Technow as well.