Ontario Invests in Innovative Pharmaceutical Technology to Strengthen Pandemic Preparedness

Ontario Together Fund continues to invest in local manufacturing to secure critical supplies supporting Ontario’s life sciences sector

April 07, 2022
Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade

“Through the Ontario Together Fund, our government is supporting innovative pharmaceutical manufacturers so we can support Ontario’s economic potential,” said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. “We are proud to partner with Bora Pharmaceutical Services to scale up their pharmaceutical production capacity, to help them secure additional production mandates.”

Bora Pharmaceutical Services is the Canadian subsidiary of Bora Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., a publicly traded Taiwanese life sciences company with decades of experience supplying products around the world. Bora Pharmaceutical Services manufactures needed medicines for both Canadian patients and more than 100 countries around the world. The company provides all the required services to bring a drug product from early development stages through to commercial manufacturing. Bora has the capability to do this for oral solid dose, liquid and semi solid drug formulations.

With this investment, Bora Pharmaceutical Services will be installing new equipment that will allow it to develop new medicines more quickly than was previously possible. This equipment will help the company reinvigorate its pharmaceutical development capacity, expand the number and type of products it manufactures, support its small-scale manufacturing operation, and attract new manufacturing mandates. The equipment will be suitable for a wide range of existing and new oral solid dose treatments. The increased speed of product development and manufacturing capabilities provided by the new equipment will help in the development of new treatments for future pandemics and public health emergencies.

The investment in Bora Pharmaceutical Services aligns with the province’s recently announced Life Sciences Strategy, a plan to make Ontario a global hub for biomanufacturing and life sciences and improve our preparedness for future challenges. It will create high-paying jobs, strengthen our health care system – and make it clear that Ontario is a world-leading partner in developing the medicines, vaccines and health technologies of the future.

“Bora Pharmaceuticals is an important part of a growing life sciences ecosystem that supports thousands of good paying, high-skilled jobs in Mississauga and across the province,” said Nina Tangri, MPP for Mississauga—Streetsville. “With this important investment, our government is ensuring we have the capacity to manufacture treatments needed in a pandemic or public health emergency, right here in Ontario.”

“Bora is excited to partner with the Government of Ontario to make this key investment in Mississauga. With this new manufacturing capacity, Bora will have the ability to attract the most advanced therapeutics from leading global companies. This provides Mississauga, Ontario, and Canada with early access to the most advance drug discovery technologies in the world. The Ontario government’s support through OTF for the project is a strong signal of the province’s commitment to the pharmaceutical industry.” – Bobby Sheng, CEO, Bora Pharmaceuticals

“Invest Ontario congratulates Bora Pharmaceutical Services Inc. on this strategic investment in its Mississauga facility and is delighted the company goes from strength to strength as a valued member of Ontario’s life sciences cluster. We are pleased that we were able to facilitate their access to the Ontario Together Fund and our team looks forward to building on our productive partnerships across industry and government with a focus on seamless and customer-centric services to secure high-impact investments for the province.” – Trevor Dauphinee, CEO, Invest Ontario

Supporting companies like Bora Pharmaceutical Services is why Ontario has invested an additional $50 million in the renewed Ontario Together Fund in 2021–22. The fund continues to support local innovators and businesses to further enhance Ontario’s domestic supply chain capacity, promote Ontario’s MedTech ecosystem and build up our manufacturing sector to ensure the province is well-prepared for future challenges.

The renewed Ontario Together Fund is focused on supporting homegrown manufacturing and innovation to combat COVID-19, and providing other goods critical to the health, safety, and security of Ontarians beyond this pandemic.

Quick Facts

• As of March 31, 2022, Ontario has supported 45 companies and 10 organizations through the Ontario Together Fund in supplying emergency products, including PPE as well as other solutions.
• Ontario’s Action Plan: Protecting People’s Health and Our Economy brings total investments to $16.3 billion to protect people’s health and $23.3 billion to protect our economy.
• The government recently revealed Taking Life Sciences to the Next Level, the province’s plan to grow Ontario’s life sciences sector and secure new investments in next-generation health technologies, medicines and vaccine manufacturing. The strategy sets out ambitious goals over the next decade, including growing Ontario’s biomanufacturing and life sciences sector to employ 85,000 Ontarians in high-value jobs by 2030, a 25 per cent increase from 2020.

Additional Resources

• Ontario Together Fund program guidelines
• 2021 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review: Build Ontario
• See how your organization can help fight COVID-19

Media Contacts

Rebecca Bozzato
Minister Fedeli’s Office
[email protected]

Kwok Wong
Communications Branch
[email protected]
647-504-2774