SCN is building the evidence and partnerships needed to advance a Made-in-Canada innovation pathway, informed by national workshops, policy engagement and research examining barriers across the full lab-to-patient journey.
Canada has many of the pieces needed to move advanced therapies from discovery to patients — world-class research, clinical expertise, regulatory tools, health technology assessment, biomanufacturing capacity and a publicly funded health system. The challenge is that these pieces do not always operate as a coordinated pathway.
For advanced therapies, particularly those serving small patient populations, decisions about research translation, evidence generation, manufacturing, regulation, reimbursement, adoption and delivery need to be considered earlier and together. When they are addressed sequentially or in isolation, promising therapies can stall, patients can wait longer for access, and Canada risks losing the health and economic value of innovations developed here.
Workshops and Reports
In June 2026, SCN convened nearly 50 leaders from across Canada’s regenerative medicine ecosystem to examine how Canada can better support advanced therapies serving small patient populations – including Canadian-developed innovations – from discovery and clinical development to patient access in Canada. The resulting report identifies six priorities for building a more coordinated Made-in-Canada pathway.
In June 2025, SCN and Breakthrough T1D Canada convened experts to examine how Canada can prepare for emerging cell therapies for type 1 diabetes, identifying barriers and practical solutions across research translation, regulation, reimbursement and health-system delivery.
