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Yesterday I reported that Cangene, one of Canada’s oldest and largest biotechnology companies was reorganizing and laying off 120 employees. Today, the French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis announced that it would eliminate 100 jobs at its Montreal area (Laval) facility to allow for better integration of Genzyme, the Massachusetts-based biotechnology company that was acquired last year for more than $20 billion. About 1,700 employees work for Sanofi’s Canadian division.

Today’s layoff news comes only day after Johnson & Johnson announced that it would close its Montreal research center and layoff 126 employees. This is bad news for Montreal which emerged as one of Canada’s hot pharmaceutical and biotechnology zone in the early 2000s. 

The Canadian biotechnology sector is much smaller than its US counterpart but there are several high profile companies that have been able to establish themselves as players in the global biotechnology industry. Hopefully, these companies will be able to weather to the economically-challenging times that are currently plaguing the Canadian biotechnology industry.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!

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Little is published in the blogosphere about the life sciences industry in Canada. Because of this, many people think that Canadian scientists and other bioprofessionals may have fared better than their US counterparts. However, like the US, thousands of scientists and others have lost jobs throughout Canada during the almost three year global recession.

While the number of layed off employees is no where near the almost 200,000 American pharma employees who have lost their jobs over the past four years, over 3,600 Canadian pharmaceuticals employees lost jobs in the second half of 2010. Most of the jobs were lost in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Like the US, these jobs were mainly lost as a result of outsourcing and corporate downsizing because of escalating financial pressures. Despite this, government officials expect the Canadian life sciences industry to recover by 2015.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (Eh)

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Ed Silverman over at Pharmalot reported today that Health Canada, the Canadian equivalent of the FDA has beaten the FDA to the punch and issued draft guidance for follow-on biologics known in Canada as subsequent entry biologics. The Canadian regulatory agency recently posted on its website requirements for manufacturers and says it could approve products under existing regulations until laws are amended to include the new approval pathway.

If approved, a subsequent-entry biologic would have to be similar to a previously approved biologic, relying in part on publicly- available safety and efficacy data. Product interchangeability and substitutability would not be automatic, but would be decided on a case-by-case basis, according to the draft guidance. Health Canada says it plans to publish additional guidance documents on specific product classes.

A subsequent-entry biologic would not automatically be approved for all the same indications as the reference product, and data would be required to support each indication in most cases. A meeting to review the draft document is scheduled for May. The proposed Canadian legislation is very similar to that adopted by the European Union for biosimilar products (what they are called in Europe). Not surprisingly the recently proposed US legislation is markedly different than the Canadian and European legislation. Go figure!

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