Page 8 - Synapse Brochure 2023
P. 8

CONNECT WITH CANADA'S LEADING HEALTH INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM                                                                                               SYNAPSE LIFE SCIENCE CONSORTIUM




                                                                                                             A Place to Discover




                                                                                                             The recent global pandemic has
                                                                                                             impressed onto governments the
                                                                                                             importance of a robust life sciences
                                                                                                             ecosystem, agile and empowered
                                                                                                             to develop solutions to our health
                                                                                                             challenges. The entire sector is growing,
                                                                                                             but most exciting is the emergence of
                                                                                                             two clusters based in Hamilton: cell and
                                                                                                             gene therapy, and radiopharmaceuticals.

                                                                                                             Core to Hamilton’s cell and gene
        A Place to Grow                                                                                      therapy cluster is OmniaBio. The largest
                                                                                                             commercial-scale manufacturing facility
                                                                                                             for cell and gene therapy products in
        Home to Ontario’s largest port,              The McMaster Nuclear Reactor                            Canada, OmniaBio is expected to be the
        Canada’s busiest cargo airport, the          produces 60 percent of the world's                      largest facility of its kind in the country
        fulcrum of Canada’s rail network, and        iodine-125 -- a medical isotope used                    and will cement Hamilton as a Canadian
        highway connections to the U.S. border       to treat more than 70,000 patients                      cluster for this emerging technology.
        and major Southern Ontario centres,          with prostate and other cancers
        Hamilton is the central node of many         globally each year.                                     Meanwhile, Hamilton is emerging as a
        supply chains - a result of an industrial                                                            primary cluster for radiopharmaceuticals,
        history that now benefits the life           Currently expanding, McMaster                           radioactive drugs used to diagnose and
        sciences sector.                             Innovation Park’s goal is to help                       treat diseases. Canada is a leader in
                                                     innovators, entrepreneurs, and                          radiopharmaceuticals and Hamilton is a
        Augmenting these supply routes is            ventures start, scale, and thrive by                    leader in Canada.
        a growing amount of life sciences-           acting as a bridge between research
        specific infrastructure, anchored by         and industry.                                           In Hamilton’s hospitals, exciting
        McMaster Innovation Park. Currently                                                                  treatments are being researched and put
        expanding, McMaster Innovation               Beyond infrastructure, life sciences in                 into practice. St. Joe’s is one of the first
        Park’s goal is to help start-ups             Hamilton have been the beneficiary                      hospitals in the world to explore the use
        graduate into commercial success.            of some of the largest planned                          of robotic surgeries, just one example of
                                                     philanthropic gifts in Canada’s history.                innovation happening here in Hamilton.
        Hamilton’s robust infrastructure has         Chief among them is Charles and
        helped grow the city’s health network        Margaret Juravinski’s $100 million
        into the second largest in Ontario and       endowment, which established the
        the fourth largest in Canada. It’s also      Juravinski Research Institute to
        helped support organizations like the        improve the treatment of age-related
        Population Health Research Institute -       diseases, cancer, lung and respiratory
        a partnership between McMaster and           care, and mental health.
        St. Joe’s - which employs 370 HQP, has
        more than 100 active clinical trials, and
        enrolls 350,000 people in 102 countries.

        8                                                                                                                                                                                         9
   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13