From penicillin to the Tesla Model 3, every great modern invention that has solved a problem plaguing the human condition has faced a significant hurdle – scaling up from the lab bench to meet demand efficiently and cost-effectively, with no loss in quality.
As breakthroughs in regenerative medicine continue to make headlines worldwide, research communities are redoubling efforts to develop sustainable technologies and processes to usher potential cell therapies into the clinic. It is perhaps one of the most technically and logistically complex quests to date in the commercialization of scientific breakthroughs. Overcoming manufacturing challenges so that cell therapies scale out, and up, reliably into affordable and efficacious treatments will unlock a potentially astronomical return on investment in terms of economic activity and improvements in human health.
The good news is that Canada, despite relatively smaller investments from funders compared with the U.K. or the U.S., is poised to make significant headway in advanced manufacturing thanks to a unique home-grown innovation model.
