Strengthening British Columbia's life sciences sector by supporting projects that advance emerging Canadian technologies and enhance the innovation ecosystem

VANCOUVER, BC, April 2, 2026 /CNW/ - Today, the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, announced a combined $127 million in Strategic Response Fund (SRF) contributions to support two major life sciences projects from Aspect Biosystems and Providence Health Care (PHC) in Vancouver, British Columbia. A stronger life sciences sector means creating and supporting good jobs for Canadians, investing in cutting-edge innovation and ensuring long-term economic growth for Canada.

The Government of Canada is contributing $79 million to support Aspect Biosystems, a Vancouver-based biotechnology company pioneering the development of bioprinted tissue therapeutics. The Province of British Columbia has also supported Aspect Biosystems with $23.8 million to help them expand. To further support the growth of Canada's life sciences ecosystem, the government is also investing $48 million in Providence Health Care, a non-profit health care network that provides health services and operates 18 facilities, including St. Paul's Hospital, a renowned Vancouver-based acute care, teaching and research hospital. PHC is currently undertaking the construction of a health care campus consisting of the new St. Paul's Hospital and Clinical Support and Research Centre (CSRC).

Aspect Biosystems is developing a new category of regenerative medicine designed to restore or supplement biological functions in the body and deliver functional cures for serious metabolic and endocrine diseases, including diabetes. These advanced therapies are developed using Aspect's industry-leading platform, which integrates proprietary AI-powered bioprinting technology, stem cells, hypoimmune cell engineering and advanced biomaterials. The Government of Canada is deepening its partnership with Aspect Biosystems through a new $280 million project that will strengthen the company's clinical development and biomanufacturing capabilities, enhance its AI-powered platform and accelerate its path to commercialization. These capabilities will help anchor commercial-scale manufacturing in Canada and reinforce the country's leadership in bioprinted tissue therapeutics, and the company is expected to maintain 117 jobs and to create 283 new well-paying jobs, for a total of 400 jobs, and create 268 student co-op positions in the Vancouver region. This project leverages Aspect Biosystems' strategic partnership with Novo Nordisk, which integrates its cell therapy capabilities into Aspect's innovative therapeutic platform for the development of potentially transformative new therapeutics.

PHC's project includes developing an innovation hub within the new CSRC, which will be directly connected via a skybridge to the new St. Paul's Hospital on the Jim Pattison Medical Campus. The CSRC's innovation hub will include core components such as data platforms and services, a clinical trials unit, a simulation centre, wet labs and an innovation centre. The hub is strategically designed to accelerate R&D and partnerships, as well as position PHC as a leader in data-driven health care innovation, equipped with AI-enabled clinical research environments for patient monitoring and data analysis.

PHC's hub will create an incubator space for the development of new technologies and the scaling up of promising small and medium-sized companies. The innovation hub will also serve as a collaborative space accessible to partner organizations, Canadian life science companies and the Government of Canada, strengthening the country's capacity to respond to future health emergencies. The organization will maintain 6,662 jobs and create 768 new well-paying full-time jobs, for a total of 7,430 full-time jobs, and it will create 597 co-op positions for students in the Vancouver region.

Canada is well positioned to be at the forefront of groundbreaking innovation, and the Government of Canada will invest strategically to leverage our country's strengths in science. Through the SRF, the government is strengthening Canada's domestic capacity to develop and manufacture innovative health solutions. Investing in next-generation biomedical technologies is essential to positioning our country as a global leader in emerging areas of biotechnology and medical research. Strengthening Canada's health emergency resilience through targeted investments is an important priority in the recently announced Defence Industrial Strategy. Growing Canada's life sciences sector is essential to the government's plan to transform the Canadian economy from reliance to resilience.

Quotes

"Canada's life sciences sector is entering a new era of momentum and possibility. Aspect Biosystems and Providence Health Care are turning bold ideas into breakthrough health solutions. By investing strategically, we're accelerating that growth—helping innovators scale up, commercialize their discoveries and manufacture cutting-edge technologies right here at home. Our government is delivering results for Canadians by investing to create high-quality jobs and strengthen our economy for the next generation of scientific discoveries."
– The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions

"Investing in these projects will accelerate the development of innovative treatments while helping improve access to the medicines Canadians need. By encouraging collaboration across the life sciences sector, we are building a more resilient, modern and sustainable health care system for Canada."
– The Honourable Marjorie Michel, Minister of Health

"Today's investments demonstrate Canada's leadership in biomanufacturing and AI-enabled health research to develop next-generation health care solutions. By supporting cutting-edge biomanufacturing in British Columbia, we are accelerating the development of transformative therapies for all Canadians, while strengthening our domestic capabilities and creating high-quality jobs across the province."
– Taleeb Noormohamed, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation

"Through our Look West strategy, British Columbia is building a life sciences sector that is globally competitive and rooted here at home. By supporting projects that advance biomanufacturing, artificial intelligence, and clinical research, we're growing a strong, resilient innovation ecosystem across the province. These investments will create good–paying jobs, attract global partners, and ensure British Columbians see real economic and health benefits from homegrown innovation."
– The Honourable Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth

"This investment from the Government of Canada is a powerful vote of confidence and adds to the significant momentum at Aspect as we advance our bioengineered cellular medicines toward patient impact. We have built a truly world-class team with deep cell therapy development expertise and recently entered a new phase of our partnership with Novo Nordisk to develop curative medicines for diabetes, integrating key stem cell and hypoimmune cell engineering technologies under Aspect's leadership. With this investment and the deepening of our partnership with the Government of Canada, we are taking a major step toward building a generational company anchored in Canada and delivering life-changing therapies to patients around the world."
– Tamer Mohamed, Chief Executive Officer, Aspect Biosystems

"The Government of Canada's investment in B.C.'s life sciences sector, including in Providence Health Care, is visionary and timely, further boosting our collective ability to find life-improving health care solutions for Canadians and people around the world. The $48 million investment in Providence will enable us to create a truly unique environment within the Clinical Support and Research Centre building, connected to the new St. Paul's Hospital on the Jim Pattison Medical Campus. Specifically, the creation of a comprehensive Phase 1 to 3 clinical trials centre, simulation centre and health informatics data platform will support our vision to drive health and economic benefits for Canadians through accelerating breakthroughs for patients and supporting a thriving Canadian life sciences industry."
– Fiona Dalton, President and CEO, Providence Health Care

Quick facts

• The Strategic Response Fund (SRF) helps Canadian industries innovate, adapt and compete in a changing global economy. The SRF supports large-scale, transformative projects that build economic resilience, strengthen supply chains and protect good jobs in key sectors such as steel, aluminum, automotive, forest products, AI and advanced technologies.
• Aspect Biosystems is a Vancouver-based private biotechnology company pioneering the development of bioprinted tissue therapeutics to treat serious metabolic and endocrine conditions, including diabetes. Aspect's full-stack tissue platform combines proprietary AI-powered bioprinting technology and hypoimmune cell engineering to develop a targeted pipeline of bioengineered cellular medicines. The company is recognized as a leader in this field globally.
• In 2024, Aspect entered into an agreement with the Strategic Innovation Fund for $49 million in funding for Project Podium, which is currently in progress and aims to establish clinical-scale biomanufacturing capabilities for bioprinted tissue therapeutics, as well as advance Aspect's platform capabilities and pipeline of bioprinted tissue therapeutics.
• In April 2023, Aspect and Novo Nordisk announced a collaboration, development and licence agreement to develop novel bioprinted tissue therapeutics to treat diabetes and obesity. The deal, worth up to US$2.6 billion, is the largest of its kind for a preclinical firm in Canada. In January 2026, the company and Novo Nordisk announced a new phase in their partnership, in which Aspect is integrating additional cell therapy technologies from Novo Nordisk into its platform and taking on additional research, development and manufacturing activities and capacity
• While officially founded in 2000, Providence Health Care's roots go back to 1894, when five Catholic orders established medical centres in Vancouver, B.C. Today, Providence continues its legacy of excellence, respect, spirituality and integrity, while pursuing innovative solutions to transform care and research in Canada and beyond.

Associated links

• Biomanufacturing: Advancing life sciences industry in Canada
• Projects in the biomanufacturing, vaccine and therapeutics ecosystem
• Strategic Response Fund
• Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy
• Aspect Biosystems
• Providence Health Care
• Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Sector Task Force
• Talent Attraction

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