BRI: At the Heart of Montreal's Biotech Cluster
BRI is located in Montreal, at the heart of one of the most dynamic biopharmaceutical clusters in North America. Montreal is one of North America's major university centres, with four major universities: McGill University, Université de Montréal, Université du Québec à Montréal, and Concordia University. BRI is surrounded by prestigious research institutions such as the Montreal Neurological Institute, the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal, the Research Centre of the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), the Montreal Heart Institute, and the INRS-Armand-Frappier Institute.
Montreal has many pharmaceutical companies performing basic research, including AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada), Merck Frosst, Pfizer, and Shire (formerly Biochem Pharma). Its strong network of CROs includes Anapharm, Cato Research, Clintrials Bioresearch, Covance, ITR Laboratories, MDS Pharma, and Quintiles Canada. DSM Biologics, located on BRI's land, is the only cGMP contract bio-manufacturing company in Canada. Finally, Montreal has the highest concentration of start-up biotech companies in Canada and assembles numerous multinational pharmaceutical companies, including Abbott, AstraZeneca, Aventis, Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada), Brystol-Myers Squibb, Merck Frosst, Novartis, Pfizer, Schering-Plough, Servier, Shire, and Wyeth-Ayerst.
