Stéphanie Doyle: Montréal InVivo has just moved into Inspire BioInnovations, a new life sciences hub in Montreal initiated through CellCarta’s vision. In your opinion, what role can this type of infrastructure play in the development of the ecosystem, and what might its evolution look like over the coming years?
Martin Leblanc: It all started with a concrete need: CellCarta had far exceeded the capacity of its former premises, both in terms of space and lab configuration. We were located downtown and absolutely wanted to stay there. When the opportunity arose to become the anchor tenant at Inspire BioInnovation, it was an obvious choice.
The location is exceptional: just minutes from major hospitals, McGill, Université de Montréal, the IRCM, the CHUM, and UQAM. The Greater Montreal area has life sciences hubs in Laval and Saint-Laurent, but it lacked one downtown. That’s exactly what we’re creating here.
The scale is also significant: the first tower is about 100,000 sq. ft., a second will double that space within two years, and a third phase is already planned. This capacity allows us to confidently project into the future, both for CellCarta’s expansion and for attracting new biotech companies.
What I truly hope is that we can recreate here the kind of synergy found at Kendall Square in Boston—a highly dense intersection of universities, hospitals, and industry that acts as a catalyst for innovation and the development of the region’s life sciences sector. In Montreal, new companies emerging from highly promising academic projects often remain too long within the academic setting due to a lack of suitable space, or they must relocate to facilities far from university centers, losing the proximity that fosters the regular interaction with the innovators who created them. In both cases, it’s suboptimal.
S.D.: You were just appointed to the federal Life Sciences Task Force, an initiative we haven’t seen in Canada for quite some time. It’s a new mandate, this time with the federal government. Can you tell us what led you to this and how you see the importance of this committee?
M.L.: There’s a particular context creating both a real threat and a real opportunity for Canada. The United States has openly stated that it no longer wants to pay higher prices for innovative drugs than those paid by other OECD countries. This is a major shift. For decades, rapid access and more favorable reimbursement for pharmaceutical innovation in the U.S. have been rewarded by massive reinvestment from the pharmaceutical industry in manufacturing plants, R&D, and clinical trials. An entire innovation ecosystem in the U.S. has resulted directly from this model.
With this repositioning, Canada must reassess its strategy. Some countries, like Germany, seem inclined to follow the U.S. by reducing spending. The U.K., meanwhile, has chosen to give greater prominence to innovative medicines to better position itself in this global realignment. Canada is currently neither among the fastest at approving new drugs nor among the most generous in reimbursing them. The direct consequence is that we attract less direct investment in manufacturing and R&D than we could with a different approach.
Let’s remember that the pharmaceutical industry reinvests about 20% of its revenues into research and development—the highest R&D intensity of any industry worldwide. If all countries begin to reduce what they pay for innovative medicines, it will inevitably lead to less investment in innovation. It’s a simple economic reality.
What motivates me to engage in this Task Force is that I believe Canada has all the essential ingredients to be a global leader in the life sciences industry: talent, universities, excellence in research and innovation, venture capital, several successful companies, proximity to the U.S. market, and competitive costs. We’ve also long known the structural challenges we need to address to realize this potential. The current situation finally gives us the momentum to tackle them. It’s not about major overhauls: we need to improve and accelerate regulatory processes for market access and clinical trials, reduce duplication across jurisdictions and provinces, and ensure greater access for our companies to domestic venture and growth capital. What’s needed now is a comprehensive strategy to bring all these elements together.
S.D.: What concrete role can Montreal and Quebec play in this national ambition?
M.L.: Montreal and Quebec are clearly one of the three most important hubs in Canada in this sector, alongside Ontario and British Columbia. We have remarkable diversity.
We need to be at the heart of this resurgence, working closely with the federal government and the most advanced provinces in innovation. The goal I hope to achieve is for Canada to no longer be just a place where innovations are developed up to a certain stage before being sold or moved abroad. I want us to go all the way—to commercialize here the innovations developed here.
There’s also an interesting dimension around health data. Canada has ten provincial healthcare systems that, if better coordinated, could become a world-leading research infrastructure to measure the real impact of new therapies on populations and on the healthcare system. It’s a comparative advantage we are not yet leveraging. If we take a visionary approach, we could redefine how the value of health innovation is recognized in a truly original way. This is a 5- to 10-year strategy to reach full realization and impact, but all the assets are already in place—and many of the benefits could materialize much sooner.