The federal Health Emergency Readiness Canada (HERC) agency is fully operational, according to Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED).

However, more than 16 months after being launched, HERC is still operating under an interim head.

Neither the agency nor its proposed Life Sciences Fund have specific budgets yet. 

Also, HERC, as a "special operating agency" within Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED), continues to refine its internal protocols and governance processes, including its working relationships with Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and other core partners, including the Department of National Defence.

“Recognizing and responding to different types of health threats requires continual refinement, and an on-going requirement to establish new relationships,” said ISED spokesperson Cheyenne Daly (photo at right).

“Since HERC’s launch, we have been implementing a new organizational structure and building domestic and international working relationships tailored to the current operational environment and geopolitical context, and this work continues,” she said.

HERC, which was launched on September 24, 2024, is operational as a special operating agency within ISED. “However, it continues to carry out work to fully implement all of its planned functions, some of which are new for the organization,” Daly said.

To enable effective delivery, HERC has taken steps to implement a new organizational structure, with dedicated teams focused on industry engagement, program delivery, trade policy, strategy, research collaborations, emergency management and domestic and international partnerships, she said.

HERC’s mission is to catalyze the development, commercialization, domestic production and supply security of critical health products and medical countermeasures by delivering sector supports, building strategic partnerships, and supporting the advancement of leading-edge innovation and robust biomanufacturing capacity.

HERC also has a specialized role to play in coordinating and supporting Canada’s industrial response in the lead up to and during a health emergency, Daly said.

This could include responding to pandemics and epidemics, but also to other health threats, including intentionally deployed threats (such as chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear threats) and significant supply disruptions stemming from geopolitical tensions and conflict, natural disasters or other pressures.

With HERC’s launch, Canada joined G7 peers that have created specialized entities to support health emergency readiness, following similar initiatives such as the U.S.’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the European Union’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA). Unlike HERC, BARDA and HERA both have their own websites.

HERC now has approximately 70 employees, Daly said. In addition to employees at ISED, HERC also has an agreement in place to second subject matter experts into the organization from Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, she added.

Last year, HERC signed agreements with the EU’s HERA to advance cooperation on cross-border health threats, focusing on medical countermeasures, research and supply chain resiliency

HERC also signed an agreement with Mexico’s Secretaría de Economía, and has collaborated with Japan (Strategic Centre of Biomedical Advanced Vaccine Research and Development for Preparedness and Response), South Korea, and others.

HERC hosted a February 2025 Innovation Symposium and a September 2025 Industry Workshop (“Health Innovation as a Driver of Economic Security”) that provided a platform for several hundred life sciences sector participants from academia, startups, established companies, non-profit and public sector entities, and domestic and international governments to share technical and scientific information about their activities, catalyzing partnerships and advancing HERC’s mission and mandate, Daly said.

HERC also hosted a large international delegation in Ottawa at a Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations Medical Countermeasure Funders Roundtable in September 2025, she added.

HERC has formalized internal governance protocols and tables for a coordinated approach to industrial health security that brings together federal innovation, health and defence portfolios, she noted.

The agency also has led federal/provincial/territorial dialogues surrounding industrial preparedness and life science sector resilience.

In addition, HERC has taken steps to realize dual use opportunities associated with medical countermeasure (MCM) and other health product technologies and partnerships that it is pursuing, working in close collaboration with the Department of National Defence, Daly said.

Research Money asked for examples of a critical health product and a medical countermeasure that HERC has helped catalyze, in a way that enhances Canada’s ability to respond to health threats.

Daly responded that Since 2020, the federal government committed more than $2.5 billion in 43 projects to enhance Canada’s vaccine, therapeutic and biomanufacturing capabilities in the country.

This includes investment across technology platforms for vaccine development, monoclonal antibodies, research capabilities and supply chain resilience. Most of these projects were funded prior to HERC being launched, however.

“HERC has maintained responsibility for coordination of investments under the Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy, which its pre-cursor organization within ISED [the Office of Life Sciences and Biomanufacturing Readiness] originally developed and implemented,” Daly said.

What is HERC’s role in setting federal government policy to prepare for a pandemic or other national health emergency?

Sir Mark Walport, a U.K. health administrator and the founding chief executive of UK Research and Innovation, chaired the federal government’s Expert Panel for the Review of the Federal Approach to Pandemic Science Advice and Research Coordination.

The panel’s report (the “Walport report”) said Canada should implement a comprehensive national health risk management system and ensure that surveillance systems adequately support real-time assessment and public health security.

Canada should establish a standing health risk assessment and planning advisory body to inform the health risk register and preparedness plan, the Walport report recommended. This body should include a dedicated standing expert advisory committee on infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness.

“No federal body was able to set out a clear overall research agenda for many months to support the varying needs of public health practitioners, health care providers, industry and policy makers,” the Walport report noted.

Canada has planning and advisory mechanisms for infectious diseases and pandemics, centered on the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network, the Special Advisory Committee, the Canadian Institutes of Health’s Governance of the Centre for Research on Pandemic Preparedness, and various permanent and ad-hoc expert committees.

However, recent reviews, including the Walport report, have urged the formalization of these structures into a more permanent, independent and central pandemic science advisory body. 

HERC’s mandate is focused on industrial preparedness for a national heath emergency, rather than on health risk assessment and setting a research agenda.

However, HERC’s mandate does include providing support for research, development and commercialization activities of domestic life science companies, as well as the operations of five pan-Canadian academic-based research hubs.

Research Money asked if HERC has a direct role and a seat at the government’s policy table in formulating Ottawa’s response to geopolitical and trade pressures.

Daly responded that HERC is following geopolitical and trade pressures closely and is “actively involved” in the government’s policy response. “It (HERC) also provides analysis on matters relevant to the life sciences sector in Canada, including current U.S. policies on the pharmaceutical sector.”

As of early 2026, several U.S. pharmaceutical policies – driven by a focus on lowering American drug costs and protecting domestic supply chains – are creating significant ripple effects for Canada, including potential drug shortages, higher prices and intense trade frictions. 

In March 2025, the U.S. began imposing tariffs on Canadian pharmaceutical exports, with rates increasing to 35 percent by August 2025.

Canadian pharmaceutical exports to the U.S. are projected to decrease by an average of US$2 billion annually, as higher tariffs make Canadian drugs less competitive, according to a study led by the University of British Columbia and published in Health Policy.

For Canadian pharmaceutical exports, mixed and unmixed medicines for therapeutic or prophylactic uses (and blood, immunological products, and vaccines being the two categories most significantly affected. 

“To address the challenge of decreasing demand, Canadian manufacturers may need to increase the proportion of CUSMA-compliant goods or expand their international market presence beyond the U.S.,” the study said.

The federal government’s spring economic update contained no information about HERC, its Life Science Fund, or their budgets.

ISED’s 2026-27 Departmental Plan offers no specific budget for HERC or its Life Science Fund, saying only “The Life Sciences Fund and HERC will advance health security and life sciences innovation by investing in biomanufacturing, genomics, and commercialization to build a resilient economy and strengthen Canada's health ecosystem.”

According to ISED’s Departmental Plan, in 2026-27, HERC will:

• Implement new activities to support the federal Government's defence agenda (i.e., biodefence and medical countermeasure readiness).
• Launch its new program, the Life Sciences Fund, and initiate a public call for proposals. Through the program, HERC will provide support for research, development and commercialization activities of domestic life science companies, as well as the operations of five pan-Canadian academic-based research hubs – announced in March 2023 – to build expertise in biodefence and contribute to the development of dual-use biotechnologies and medical countermeasures.
• Target outreach and engagement to accelerate innovation and strengthen the life sciences ecosystem. This includes ongoing engagement with the domestic life sciences industry, renewing and refocusing the organization's federal-provincial-territorial and Indigenous engagement strategies, maintaining strategic coordination with Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy-funded research hubs, and hosting sector-wide events such as the HERC Innovation Symposium.
• Enhance Canada's presence at international medical countermeasure (MCM) forums, establish new strategic MCM partnerships in industrial health security, and deliver on a range of collaborative initiatives with international partners. These are expected to include joint tabletop and industrial capacity planning exercises, joint supply chain mapping activities, and funding of co-innovation projects with international counterparts.
• Leverage its international activities to deliver a trade diversification, investment attraction, and supply chain collaboration strategy for the organization.
• Advance health security and national defence objectives by launching a national real-time supply chain monitoring system for critical drugs.

Research Money reached out to Ritu Banerjee, interim head of HERC, to request an interview. However, ISED said it would be responding to any questions about HERC.

“We recognize that our nation’s security is predicated on the health of its population but also on its health sovereignty,” said Daly at ISED.

“To achieve this, and to align with broader defence priorities, we are focusing on growing domestic production capacity for medical countermeasures, advancing dual-use technology development and commercialization, and leading innovations in next generation platform technologies, including, but not limited to, lipid nanoparticles, mRNA, next-generation vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostic devices, and radiopharmaceuticals.”

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