Advocacy
LSO's advocacy efforts currently focus around three key priorities:
Keep the life sciences sector at the forefront of policy conversations.
Position Ontario as a national and global leader in the life sciences.
Develop a framework for rare diseases for Ontario.
Casting Our Pebble Into The Pond – Rare Disease Vision Paper
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Life Sciences Ontario has released a bold new vision for how the Ontario government can create a provincial rare disease strategy to save lives and boost Ontario’s economy. The COVID-19 pandemic showed in spades how health challenges will only be overcome with innovation, collaboration and speed.
With the right policies and a comprehensive strategy coordinated nationally, Ontario can build on these lessons. Now is the time to harness advances in science and healthcare for the benefit of both rare disease patients and Ontario’s economic development.
The vision paper outlines five strategic pillars that are necessary to make this happen:
- Build a workable system for patients that is driven by facts and data
- A clear, efficient and patient-friendly health regulatory system
- Accelerated funding for rare diseases diagnosis, treatments and care
- Make managing rare diseases an economic development strategy
- Integrate Ontario’s rare disease strategy with other health initiatives and the
- Canadian Rare Disease Strategy
Leading the Way Toward Recovery, Resilience and Prosperity: Roadmap for an Integrated Life Sciences Ecosystem
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Life Sciences Ontario (LSO) has announced the launch of the document, Leading the Way Toward Recovery, Resilience and Prosperity: Roadmap for an Integrated Life Sciences Ecosystem, a follow up to the 2017 Blueprint for a Coordinated Life Sciences Strategy. Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations across the life sciences ecosystem have shown an unprecedented degree of agility to rapidly innovate, but we as a sector could have been more prepared.
This document identifies key priorities areas to create a more resilient, prepared, and integrated life sciences ecosystem—across sectors, across academia, across disciplines, across the innovation continuum, and across government. The Roadmap stresses the importance of public-private partnership, strengthened supply chains for SMEs and proactive regulatory and procurement systems that not only help us recover from the pandemic but also position the Province for health security and economic prosperity into the future. The recommendations also include emphasizing the need for dialogue and alignment through different provincial Ministries, and collaboration across the ecosystem to unlock the sector’s potential.
Accelerating Prosperity: The Life Sciences Sector in Ontario
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Life Sciences Ontario engaged Deloitte to conduct a study of the economic contribution of the life sciences sector in Ontario along with an analysis of recent trends. The study also analyzes the sector’s challenges associated with access to capital, human resources, and investments in R&D, and highlights key learnings from select international jurisdictions to consider for advancing the sector. Finally, the analysis investigates the potential economic contributions to Ontario’s economy if the sector was supported to grow at a rate comparable to other advanced jurisdictions.
This report was funded by Life Sciences Ontario through support from the following members: Pfizer Canada Inc.,Hoffmann-La Roche Limited, Innovative Medicines Canada, AstraZeneca, Sanofi Pasteur, Merck Canada Inc., Novartis Canada, Novo Nordisk Canada Inc., Amgen Canada Inc., and Celgene Inc.
Advocacy Events
Ideas to Action Life Sciences Forum
LSO’s Annual Ideas to Action Forum, has been around for over 10 years, brings together key stakeholders to strategize how we can accelerate our life sciences sector.
Queen’s Park Day
Our 2023 Queen’s Park Day brought together senior industry representatives and government decision-makers from various parties for in-depth policy discussions about Ontario’s thriving life sciences sector and strategies to foster its growth.