SECTOR GROWTH

Life Sciences

Hants County is an important player in Nova Scotia’s emerging bio-cluster. “Life Sciences” refers to any branch of science, i.e. biology, medicine, anthropology, and ecology that examines living organisms, their structure and behavior, their life processes and their relationships with each other and their environment (e.g. genetics, research application to reproductive technologies, disease and health care, toxicology, food safety, nutritional enrichment, and medical visualization). The sector is worth $500 billion globally, and is increasing at double digit rates (20%). Halifax is home to significant life sciences research activity and the Windsor-West Hants region has complementary expertise in commercialization and manufacturing.

Businesses in Hants County’s life sciences sector include:

• Sepracor was founded in 1984, and went public in 1991. It is a research based global pharmaceutical company focused on respiratory and central nervous system disorders, and it operates a trial manufacturing facility in Windsor.
• BioMedica Diagnostics Inc. manufactures rapid diagnostic equipment in Windsor. Its business model is based on bringing laboratory medicine closer to the patient by providing portable, easy to use, affordable instruments and reagents for rapid diagnostics in smaller less resourced clinics and hospitals.