New biohub in Canada
On May 1, the first building of a new CA$350 ($280) million project known as Medicine and Research Science (MaRS) initiative will open in Toronto—which makes it the fourth hub in the country after Montreal, Vancouver and Saskatoon. MaRS is slated to be completed in 2007. Funded by a CA$100 ($80) million bond issue and other city, province and national contributions, as well as CA$13.1 ($11) million from private sources, MaRS will give Ontario's biotech firms easier access to 60 research centers and seven teaching hospitals within reach of Toronto. The members of the Canadian academic, scientific and business communities who founded MaRS acknowledge there are considerable risks in setting up yet another new biotech hub. But Dana Ono, managing director, life sciences at VIMAC Ventures, a Boston-based venture capital firm, believes that, to be successful, the region must have top-flight financial institutions, a world-class research base in universities and institutions and supportive town/gown relations to succeed. “While success may take time—think years—it is an investment that will fundamentally change the economic landscape,” says Ono whose company is opening a Canadian office in MaRS. SS
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