Biolab opens R&D center and plans factory in Canada
Biolab Farmacêutica is accelerating its internationalization project. Today, the laboratory is opening the doors of its first research and development (R&D) center outside Brazil, in the province of Ontario, Canada, and in the next two or three years it plans to set up a drug manufacturing plant in that country. The result of investments of 56 million Canadian dollars (around US$ 45 million), the center will act as a technological platform for the laboratory, the first Brazilian 100% capital to set up an R&D unit in another country, in international markets.
A strong culture of innovation and agility in approving research and new products, which already leave Canada with automatic registration in the countries that are part of the British Commonwealth, led Biolab there, according to president Cleiton de Castro Marques. "Agility was the factor that drove us the most," he says. The Brazilian laboratory had previously looked at New Jersey, in the United States, as an alternative for investment, but the structure offered by the Canadians was decisive. "At first, we're going to replicate the research we're doing in Brazil in Canada, in order to produce strong dossiers for [product approval] in highly regulated markets." Ongoing research in Brazil will also be conducted by Biolab Canada. Initially, the center will have a team of 60 researchers by the end of the first phase, all hired in the Canadian market. The general management of the unit will be the responsibility of Paulo Wickbold Marques, a second-generation representative of Biolab. According to the businessman, the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) already acts with great rigor in terms of regulation and has made progress in the debates on innovation, but the processes are still lengthy in the country. "It's a policy still under construction, in progress," he says. In Canada, it's easier to advance in R&D, he adds.
The Brazilian pharmaceutical company is already present in international markets, via product licensing. However, it does not yet have its own production in other countries. Biolab's interest in Ontario is not isolated. In an interview with Valor, Ontario's commercial consul, Todd Barrett, said that seven of Brazil's largest pharmaceutical companies, including Biolab, are in talks with the local government. These negotiations could, in the medium term, result in similar investments to that of the pharmaceutical company owned by brothers Cleiton and Paulo de Castro Marques. As well as having the presence of all the world's major pharmaceutical companies, the Canadian province has used financial incentives to consolidate itself as an innovation hub in the sector. In the case of Biolab, the Ontario government will make 2.8 million Canadian dollars available for research and development expenses. According to Barrett, the resources will come from a fund created in 2013 with the aim of fostering R&D activity and attracting projects in the areas of clinical trials, pharmaceutical research and biotech start-ups. The government also offers a tax credit program, which can result in a reduction of at least 15% in income tax. "The government has a strong interest in boosting the pharmaceutical industry," he says.