What began as a bedroom community, has since grown into Canada’s second largest life sciences sector that continues to draw business investment from across the globe. It all began in the mid-1960s, when the first of these companies – now known as AstraZeneca – opened a manufacturing facility in Mississauga. Other pharmaceutical firms soon followed, eventually in such large numbers that the area was nicknamed ‘Pill Hill’.
Mississauga’s life sciences hub has since diversified far beyond its pharmaceutical roots. And while the name Pill Hill is still used on occasion, the area is now described in more glowing terms. Like ‘one of the leading life sciences hubs in North America’. And ‘a magnet for the brightest minds and leading-edge companies’ in Canada. Those sentiments speak to the incredible success and rapid growth of Mississauga’s life sciences sector. In less than six decades, Mississauga’s life sciences hub has grown to more than 470 companies. Combined, those companies employ more than 25,000 workers, nearly a third of all life sciences workers in Ontario. And it’s still growing. Growing rapidly, in fact.
Over the past five years, the expansion of Mississauga’s life sciences hub has exceeded the average of every other Canadian industry. In the past two years alone, this hub attracted more than $1billion in investment. Clearly, Mississauga’s Life Sciences Strategy, the first of its kind for a Canadian municipality, is working.
Not only is Mississauga attracting new companies, existing firms in the sector are also growing and expanding. Last year, Resilience Biotechnologies Inc., the Mississauga-based subsidiary of National Resilience Inc., announced plans to modernize and expand its commercial scale manufacturing capacity. The $401 million project will increase the company’s biomanufacturing capacity for vaccines and therapeutics, including novel technologies, such as mRNA, that are used to fight COVID-19.
Roche, one of the world’s largest biotech companies, is also expanding its Mississauga presence, investing $500 million, and adding an additional 500 jobs, to establish a global pharma technical operation. “Our search included a competitive review of life sciences centres of excellence all around the globe,” says Damian Siggins, Global Head of Pharma Technical (PT) Transformation. “Mississauga was our final choice for this investment, because it is home to a thriving and growing life sciences sector, is a collaborative municipal partner and is home to some of the best talent we need today and for the future of our industry.”
Homegrown companies are also spreading their wings. Among them, the bio-technology company Microbix Biosystems. Established in 1988 in Mississauga, Microbix supplies key biological ingredients (antigens) for infectious disease tests to more than 100 diagnostics companies globally. After significantly extending its operations in the past two years, Microbix is now establishing a third site in Mississauga.
Life sciences companies, whether international firms, scale-ups or start-ups, flock to Mississauga because they recognize its positioning at the very core of Canada’s innovation and technology activity. They come because Mississauga offers the support, resources and community life they need to cultivate growth, success and global impacts. They appreciate the virtually unlimited supply of exceptional talent (thanks to more than 30 universities and colleges, all within commuting distance).
Then there’s the city’s strategic position in Southern Ontario’s Life Sciences Corridor, with the McMaster Innovation Park situated to the west and the MaRS Discovery District in downtown Toronto to the east. The result is quick and easy access to various partners from the regional life sciences ecosystem. While proud of the success of its life sciences sector, Mississauga remains focused on how best to support the cluster’s continued growth and development. The city is doubling down on its support for scaling, high-growth companies, especially in key sectors like life sciences. Acting on recommendations from a 2019 study on Mississauga’s Innovation Ecosystem and the City’s Economic Development Strategy, the city identified priority actions to enhance services in the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. Earlier this year, Mississauga launched IDEA (the Innovation District of Mississauga) to elevate the city’s entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem by working with its partners collaboratively to help businesses launch and grow. Later this year, Mississauga will open IDEA Square One, a 4,300-square-foot innovation hub, in Square One Shopping Centre. IDEA Square One will be a collaborative venue for entrepreneurs and innovators to connect, learn and grow their ventures in the heart of Mississauga.
“IDEA Mississauga brings together a rich network of mentorship, partners, talent and connections to test, scale and commercialize solutions to global challenges,” says Christina Kakaflikas, Mississauga’s Director of Economic Development. “Our new scale-up programming and mentorship will help start-ups develop into high-growth companies like Microbix.” Some of the sector’s most promising start-ups begin as scientific breakthroughs within the University of Toronto-Mississauga’s (UTM) Centre of Medicinal Chemistry (CMC). Founded in 2016, CMC has a relatively small footprint of just 4,000-square- feet but has developed innovations that have attracted significant investment and created several spinout companies and numerous jobs.
To scale up its success, a new state-of-the-art 90,000-square-foot facility in- cluding lab and incubation space, and support for affiliated new company start- ups is being built as part of the new science building at UTM. Construction is expected to be completed in the spring of 2023.
“The UTM Centre is an important success story for Ontario’s life sciences sector,” says the centre’s director, Dr. Rav Kumar. “Strategically located in Mississauga, the CMC’s proximity to global pharmaceutical leaders brings together cutting-edge academic science with industry expertise.”
Mississauga’s commitment to its life sciences hub, and those firms that populate it, is unrivalled. The City is committed to supporting life sciences companies at any phase of growth and has the necessary resources and connections to set them up for success.
To learn more about Mississauga’s unlimited opportunities in life sciences and connect with a team of experts, visit: www.thefutureisunlimited.ca/lifesciences.
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