Innovative biologics

Developing biologics for complex health challenges

Biologics, including vaccines and therapeutics, are used more and more in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of complex health conditions such as viruses, cancers and neurological disorders like Alzheimer's disease.

Composed of sugars, proteins or nucleic acids, or complex combinations of these substances, biologics are produced using living cells from people, plants or animals. They're made using biomanufacturing, which takes place in specially designed biomanufacturing facilities.

Biologics are typically much larger and are significantly more difficult to produce than traditional small molecule drugs, such as penicillin or over-the-counter pain medications, which are created with chemical ingredients.

Comparing traditional chemical drugs with biologics would be like comparing a bicycle with an airplane. They're both modes of transportation, but a plane has many more complicated parts and assembling a plane is far more complex.

Understandably then, successful biologics rely heavily on extensive and rigorous testing and analysis throughout a long development process. This is critical to ensuring novel biologics will be safe and effective once they reach the human clinical trial stage.

With our team of multidisciplinary experts and our specialized facilities, we help advance new biologics from innovation through clinical trials. Focused on getting new treatments ready for commercial use, our Human Health Therapeutics researchers help develop biologics to tackle some of the most challenging health problems facing Canadians today.