Toronto's University Health Network expanding Chinese operations in Shanghai

Canada's largest research hospital is expanding its operations in Shanghai as part of a long-term strategy to establish a network of international centres for collaboration and drug development. Toronto's University Hospital Network (UHN) is ramping up its chemistry labs in Shanghai and has established a contract research organization (CRO) to help realize its mission of building on its strengths to become a preferred research partner locally, nationally and internationally.

UHN's Chinese-based subsidiary — UHN Shanghai — is expected to grow from 14 to as many as 30 within 18 months as new opportunities emerge due to its physical presence in a rich R&D environment and Shanghai's complementary strengths in biomedical sciences. UHN Shanghai is part of UHN Global Ventures, which has a mandate to increase commercialization and extend the global outreach of UHN research.

UHN Shanghai's operations are sustained by a modest $2-million commitment from UHN and steadily growing contract revenues.

"This fits into our strategic plan like a hand to glove, We want to build novel, innovative areas and help our scientists move projects further and faster and move products down the pipeline to commercialization," says Dr Christopher Paige, UHN's VP research. "In Asia, Shanghai was our number one choice to get things started. They have made a heavy investment in the biomedical sciences and the region has a huge base of chemistry."

need for chemists

Shanghai's chemistry capacity is a key motivator for UHN's ramping up of its first foreign operations there, often in collaboration with several institutes affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and area universities. Paige says the lack of organic and medicinal chemists in the Toronto region was threatening to impede UHN's drug development capabilities.

"In Canada there simply aren't enough chemists. A grant-driven system does not easily fund that kind of work. If I need a chemist to change a compound I'm working on, there's nobody to do it ," he says. "The big difference in China is the intellectual capital. There are hundreds of PhD-level chemists and they have an interest in working on drug development. "

While it's still relatively uncommon for a foreign research hospital to establish operations in Shanghai, Paige notes that virtually all of the multinational drug companies have located operations in the area to tap into its chemistry expertise. Those firms (all of which are located within a eight-km radius of UHN Shanghai) are also making the transition from drug synthesis to R&D — an evolution UHN may consider in the future.

"We're already expanding our chemistry labs and have a number of ongoing contracts. UHN Shanghai will continue to grow. There are no plans to cap it," says Paige. "In the future, we'd like to use UHN Shanghai for the exchange of late-stage medical students, expand our collaboration in immunology and conduct joint clinical trials."

UHN has also established operations in Shantou China to study bird flu. Through this operation, a collaborative relationship is developing with Institute Pasteur China to work on other infectious diseases projects.

Paige says UHN Shanghai is generating considerable interest among other Canadian universities and research hospitals, yet UHN remains unique in Canada in establishing core operations abroad.

"A lot of universities have relationships with Chinese universities and some have also set up an office. But I can't think of another Canadian research hospital with functioning labs and employees," he says. "UHN already has international collaborations but they tend to be individual-based. This is institutional."

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