4 promising breakthroughs that could bolster Canada’s health sector

Amid the current trade turmoil, creating a more resilient healthcare system is becoming a national imperative. Canadian innovators are working on solutions that could democratize access to screening, refine personalized medicine and improve care.

Your physician may not have mentioned it at your last appointment but here’s a factor that’s vital to your overall health: Canadian sovereignty.

The trade war threatening our jobs, our cost of living and our border has another target in its sights: our healthcare. The biotech and health tech sectors have been upended by economic instability, and the Trump administration is considering tariffs on pharmaceuticals that have the potential to disrupt the supply chain that exports billions of dollars of medical ingredients. All of which means that fostering innovation and self-sufficiency in our healthcare system doesn’t just benefit our wellbeing — it’s also a national imperative.

Despite the upheaval, Canada is cultivating a host of health-oriented breakthroughs that hold the promise of life-altering new treatments. And as U.S. government policies cut funding for American research, there may be more opportunities for Canada to support revolutionary innovation. Here are four trends bringing new health benefits to Canadians and the world.

Trevor Pugh is the director of genomics at the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research.

New cancer diagnostics are making healthcare more accessible

Spotting the first signs of cancer can be the most significant factor in determining a patient’s outcome, and the newest innovation in pursuit of that goal is liquid biopsies. Where traditional tissue biopsies rely on physical samples extracted from a tumour, liquid biopsies use blood, saliva or urine to detect and monitor the development of malignant cells at the earliest stages thanks to cutting-edge technologies.

Two advantages are driving these innovations forward. First, liquid biopsies are quick, painless and far less invasive, and, perhaps more importantly, they can be administered outside of a hospital setting. Instead of going to a test, a test could, theoretically, come closer to you, which creates new possibilities for early detection and ongoing monitoring — and could be hugely beneficial in improving access to care, especially in underserved communities.

“The potential savings for care are enormous, especially since the cost of treating someone with late-stage cancer is so high,” says Trevor Pugh, a senior investigator and the director of genomics at the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research (OICR). Earlier this year, the OICR acquired an Ultima sequencer, a powerful new instrument that allows researchers to analyze volumes of DNA for a fraction of what the process previously cost. “The big conceptual shift is not looking at single genes; it’s looking at the entire genome. It becomes a platform to learn not just about cancer, but potentially about other disorders as well,” he adds. “It really is the future.”

Liquid biopsies have been rolled out at select Canadian hospitals, in Ontario and New Brunswick, and three local ventures are among the companies developing different approaches to these diagnostics. Kingston-based mDetect is using DNA testing to monitor therapy response and cancer progression, including in metastatic breast cancer and early-stage ovarian cancer. Kitchener startup Asima is developing a novel method that can scan a blood sample for signs of a variety of cancers. And Oxford Cancer Analytics, based in Toronto and Oxford, U.K., are developing a test for early-stage lung cancer.

“The proliferation of companies operating in this space is a big opportunity, because they’re really putting these technologies into practice,” says Pugh. “This level of research intensity is the type of thing that will drive adoption.”

Trevor Pugh will be discussing disruptive sequencing on May 7 at 3:15 p.m. and will join a panel exploring how advanced technologies can improve access to cancer screening May 7 at 3:30 p.m.

Catherine Bornbaum is the chief business officer at RetiSpec.

Real-life data is fuelling advances in personalized medicine

If anyone knows how much your eyes reveal, it’s your optometrist. Whether or not they lean into poetic interpretations, those specialists have a unique window into a range of conditions that may first come to attention during an annual eye exam, including early signs of heart disease and diabetes, as well as multiple sclerosis, Lyme disease, rheumatoid arthritis, stroke and certain cancers. Toronto medical AI startup RetiSpec has been developing tools that would allow optometrists to identify Alzheimer’s years before any symptoms appear.

“We saw that there are huge gaps in care,” says RetiSpec’s chief business officer Catherine Bornbaum, “and what we learned is that optometry provides a unique opportunity to help address those gaps.”

Instead of running clinical trials, which can be prohibitively expensive, RetiSpec partnered with several optometry clinics in Canada and the U.S. to collect real-world data during routine eye exams. The company’s non-invasive test can detect the buildup of amyloid plaque on the retina, allowing optometrists to identify early signs of Alzheimer’s and refer patients to specialists to confirm a diagnosis. “One of my hopes, says Bornbaum, “is that by providing this information to people, it can be a helpful tool for their concerns to be taken seriously, to have a proper workup done, and to get them the answers and hopefully the treatment that they require.”The next steps for RetiSpec are a regulatory study and filings that would enable them to roll out their technology in eye clinics next year.

Catherine Bornbaum’s colleague, RetiSpec CEO Eliav Shaked, will be part of a panel exploring innovations that could transform dementia care, May 8 at 10:20 a.m.

Dr. Daniel Drucker is an endocrinologist and professor of medicine in the division of endocrinology at the University of Toronto.

GLP-1s could be used for more than just weight loss

There’s no shortage of headlines about GLP-1 agonist class medications such as Wegovy and Ozempic, and it feels like almost all of those stories have focused on weight loss (if not a celebrity’s weight loss). But we’re only starting to hear the most important revelations about these glucagon-like peptides — including the fact that their applications extend well beyond waistlines.

These drugs, originally designed to treat Type-2 diabetes, mimic a naturally occurring protein that lowers blood sugar, slows digestion and suppresses appetite. In short, they target metabolism, which is why they’ve proven to be effective weight-loss tools. It’s also why new studies are showing that they may be useful treating a host of other metabolic-related conditions.

“GLP-1 medicines continue to surprise us scientifically, with a range of new mechanisms enabling exciting new opportunities for therapeutic application in the clinic, including arthritis, metabolic liver disease, heart disease and kidney disease,” says Dr. Daniel Drucker, a doctor at Mount Sinai Hospital and a professor at the University of Toronto, whose research collaborations led to the discovery and development of GLP drugs.

This one class of drug shows so much potential for a simple reason: obesity is a contributing factor in close to 85 percent of all illnesses, says Zayna Khayat, adjunct faculty at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, and the health futurist in residence at Deloitte. “It’s because your metabolism is out of whack,” she says. “So a drug that restores metabolic homeostasis is going to fundamentally change every disease.”

As our understanding of GLP-1s deepens, so does our potential to optimize how they’re prescribed for obesity — something our physicians don’t always have the bandwidth to deliver. A new Toronto venture has developed a platform to better help support patients on these medications. Nymble is providing patients with a regimen that includes behavioural guidelines related to diet, exercise and mental health, as well as information about potential side effects. To improve users’ success, the company provides AI-powered around-the-clock support via text messaging and keeps tabs on misinformation spread on social media, which it counters with fact-based science.

On May 7 at 1:10 p.m., join >Dr. Daniel Drucker, who will be talking about the expansive possibilities of GLP-1s and on May 8 at 11:35 a.m. Nymble will be pitching as part of the digital health showcase.

Bharat Srinivas is a principal at life sciences venture capital firm Amplitude.

America’s science exiles could boost Canadian biotech

Last month, 75 per cent of U.S. scientists answering a Nature magazine poll said they’re considering leaving the country for jobs in Europe and Canada. There’s a growing fear that the Trump administration’s assault on immigration, universities, research funding and federal institutions amounts to a war on science that will have devastating impacts for decades to come.

Watching the chaos unfold from Canada, Bharat Srinivasa, a principal at life sciences venture capital firm Amplitude, has been wondering whether providing opportunities for those seeking so-called “scientific asylum” could mitigate some of that devastation.

As he sees it, geopolitical uncertainty makes this a vital time to bolster Canada’s scientific community. And with an increasingly older demographic facing rising rates of chronic illness, advances in biotech aren’t just important for government budgets and quality of life. “Access to novel medicines is being recognized as core to national security and economic resilience,” says Srinivasa. “This was particularly apparent during the COVID pandemic, when Canada lagged behind in access to vaccines.”

To catalyze a “brain gain” with benefits for the economy, the biotech sector and the treatments available to everyday Canadians, we need to do more than roll out a welcome mat; we need to bankroll innovation.

“Nothing attracts people more than successful companies,” says Srinivasa. “And to build large companies, we need more depth of capital in the market. This allows for sufficient risk-taking from the investor base and the ability to attract talent comfortable with pushing the boundaries of innovation to build and grow companies and perpetuate this positive feedback loop.”

This is also a good time to lean into something our country doesn’t always do well: trumpet our accomplishments. Srinivasa recognizes Canada’s advantages in AI, antibodies and RNA technology. “But if I have to pick one underappreciated Canadian strength,” he says, “it would be clinical trials.” Given the current upheaval at the FDA and elsewhere in the U.S., he adds, “Now is the time to capitalize on this to bring new medicines to Canadian patients.”

Bharat Srinivasa will be discussing the process of commercializing biotech startups May 7 at 11 a.m.

 
The upcoming MaRS Impact Health conference on May 7 & 8 will bring together the innovators at the frontlines of Canada’s health care revolution. Check out the full program here.

Photo illustration: Stephen Gregory; Images: Unsplash and handout art