Canadian Biotechnology Industrial Activities: Features from the 1997 Biotechnology Survey - ARCHIVED

As of 1997, Canadian biotech industry was made of 282 core firms. Of these, 214 were small firms with less than 50 employees, 37 were medium firms with 51 to 150 employees, and 31 were large firms with over 150 employees. They earned $813 million from biotech products sales, $311 million of which were from exports. They employed 9,000 people in biotech related activities and had 8,924 products at all stages of development. Private placements, venture capital and labour sponsored funds were these firms main sources of financing capital. Access to capital was the most serious obstacle faced by the biotech firms in 1997. Marketing and distribution were their major reasons for entertaining strategic alliances, while universities were their most preferred R&D partners.