Major funding commitment to genomics urged as private sector activity escalates

Canada must develop a national genomics strategy and dramatically increase its investment in the field to ensure a place in the post-human genome world of proteomics, sequencing and functional genomics. As applications of genomics spread throughout the economy, a major and sustained funding strategy must be conceived and implemented to capitalize on the investments made to date, says an executive of Genome Canada, the nation's central genomics funding and research body.

For Genome Canada, that means an indication from the federal government on what level of funding it can expect in the coming years as it prepares to select the first round of projects and the organization's five regional centres at the end of March.

"As of March 31st, all of Genome Canada's money will be committed over the next four years. The response has been better than anticipated," says Marc Lepage, Genome Canada's executive VP corporate development, adding that the projects to be approved will have a value of between $300 million and $500 million. "We're planning a second round competition in the fall of 2001, but it will still be large-scale projects. We're making the case (for additional funding) but we still need better data on what's coming (in the field of genomics). In terms of public policy, genomics is moving very fast."

The initial round of applicants for large scale projects drew 275 letters of intent, which have been boiled down to 80 proposals. Lepage says that, of the 80 "25 are real eye poppers" although ultimately between 12 and 15 will be funded.

Lepage outlined the state of genomics in Canada and abroad at a recent Ottawa life sciences conference and he stressed that the $160 million given to Genome Canada in the last federal Budget must be viewed as only an initial investment. Compared to other countries, Canada's support of genomics is meager, with the US government spending 15 times per capita what Canada spends. The UK's spending is nearly 14 times greater, with France, Germany and Japan not far behind.

According to Lepage, the federal government must commit between $800 million and $900 million to genomics to remain competitive. As a point of comparison, Genome Canada will begin operations at a funding level of $60-70 million a year, whereas a single US institute - the renowned Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - has an annual budget of $80 million a year.

Lepage adds that, as Genome Canada's large scale projects mature, they will begin to generate significant amounts of intellectual property. This will stimulate the interest of the corporate sector, which is projected to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into commercialization activity.

In the life sciences in general, Canadian venture capital has skyrocketed from just $50 million in 1992 to an estimated $590 million in 2000. Lepage says the dramatic increase is encouraging, but more is required to grow a domestic genomics industry that is globally competitive. During the same period, Canada's trade deficit in health products has soared from just over $2 billion 1992 to nearly $5 billion in 1999.

"It's still the beginning of the first inning. We've mapped out the state of our ignorance," he says.

Preliminary data indicate that Canada is home to 38 genomics companies, with the vast majority located in Quebec (17), Ontario (12) and British Columbia (5).

Data are also forthcoming on Canada's performance in the production of scientific papers relating to genomics. Prepared by the Observatoire des sciences et des technologies (OST), the data show that Canada is a significant player and will be published early in January.

Lepage says the OST data will help to illustrate where Canada ranks in the global environment and what it has to do to catch up to the world leaders.

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