The road to reshaping Canada’s life sciences sector

A revolution is coming – one that will forever change the ways that we treat Canada’s most pressing health care problems, such as COVID-19. The country’s health care and biomanufacturing sectors, which have been evolving for decades, are finally gaining momentum as innovation accelerates. But to leverage this momentum and protect the future of the life sciences industry, we need to increase manufacturing capabilities and modernize how we serve Canadians through technology by overhauling traditional systems and optimizing business operations to deliver better outcomes and long-term growth for the sector.

Innovation at the forefront

Fostering innovation is key to creating and testing effective blueprints for new structures and processes by using data and technology. Bringing the life sciences industries into the digital future will require major investments, partnered with equally big changes in strategy and thinking. And, this starts with keeping intellectual property and knowledge on Canadian soil in order to build up medical excellence. Entrepreneurs and startups have the building blocks needed to spark innovation — from great research facilities to academic institutions and access to top talent. Next, we need to enable them to scale up to compete and capture global market share, helping to position Canada as a leader in the fast-growing life sciences industry.

A consistent theme that emerged during EY’s recent Life Sciences webcast, focused on how executives in the sector are grappling to scale digital designs, concepts, solutions and technologies due to lack of funding and adherence to traditional operating models and older platforms. When it comes to Canada's response to COVID-19 and the vaccine rollout, for example, the pandemic has underscored the need to move faster in developing and adapting new products and strategies.

To make this happen, supply chains need to be more secure and reliable and Canadian product development needs to be able to pivot to respond quickly to address areas of immediate need. Increasing investment in the growth of early stage Biotech and Medtech companies, along with research and development initiatives will not only protect Canadians, but also provide economic benefits to businesses, especially in the manufacturing sector, while connecting researchers with startup companies.

Digitally enabled models

In response to the pandemic, a deep vein of virtual care arose, showing us that technologies are the bridge to building smarter health systems. Canadians learned a lot about their own health care system and other global systems during this time and virtual care and telehealth offered a new way forward for clinical and operational models, leading to greater efficiency, more personalized heath care and improved experiences.

As life sciences organizations consider their path forward, creating an effective data environment that supports a more human-centered approach will be an urgent need. To transition to a connected health ecosystem, organizations need to get the technical, operational and cultural changes right. This will allow us to capitalize upon the potential of massive health data sets to drive actions and ultimately lead to improved health outcomes, better clinical outcomes, more efficient care delivery and lower health care costs.

Today, data models do more than report data to providers — they are used to inform clinical decision-making, reduce unnecessary medical errors and provide care continuity across multiple care settings. At the enterprise level, intelligence functions convert data into actionable insights around population health, clinical decision support and streamlining operations for greater efficiencies.

Of course, there are still major challenges to realizing the vision of a personalized health ecosystem, but health care organizations that turn data actions into economic results by focusing on creating truly patient-centered, data-driven products and offerings have the greatest opportunity to lead the transformation of health and wellness in Canada.

Future-ready workforce

Health care organizations will achieve success when they see that the way forward is built around data, technologies and human capacities that grow the business of tomorrow, rather than just repeating today’s procurement and training cycles. To avoid ceding value in the future, health and life sciences organizations need to consider how their products and services will align with the emerging data infrastructure. This may mean identifying the right talent to work with — or being bold and making the first move to build that infrastructure.

Bringing new products to market in a digital world will require collaboration across a range of disciplines, including software and product development, branding and pricing, data engineering, scientific research, tax, and legal. It will also require agile new product development through rapid prototyping, testing and refinement. Organizations that want to stay one step ahead will need to develop a workforce strategy that addresses the shifts in workforce supply and demand resulting from automation, shifting skillsets and the nature of job roles. And finally, a new mix of leadership skills will be needed to lead talent in the digital era.?

Implementing future-proof infrastructure and capabilities will be critical to laying the foundations for the next generation of patient-centered products and services, and health-related startups. By enabling innovation, tapping into digital and increasing investment, we can bulldoze obstacles and reframe the Canadian life sciences sector to underpin a better future.

For more insights on the impacts of COVID-19 on the Canadian life sciences sector, click here.?