French company says $294-million investment will create 50 new jobs.
Sanofi announced on Monday that it is investing $294 million to expand its AI Centre of Excellence in Toronto.
The French biopharmaceutical giant’s commitment towards the hub, which currently employs more than 150 people, is expected to create 50 additional jobs across AI, machine learning, and pharmaceutical data science by 2028. Through Invest Ontario, the Government of Ontario is providing a conditional grant of up to $5 million towards the initiative.
Sanofi currently employs more than 2,000 people across Canada
“Today’s announcement reinforces Sanofi’s long-term commitment to investing in and growing the AI talent pipeline in Toronto and strengthening Ontario’s position as a strategic hub for innovation,” Dimitrije Jankovic, Sanofi’s global head of digital strategy and operations and leader of its Toronto AI Centre of Excellence, said in a news release.
Sanofi first opened the Toronto AI Centre of Excellence four years ago, noting at the time that it planned to hire more than 100 tech workers for the hub in 2022, and 200 by 2025.
During a press conference on Monday, Jankovic said Sanofi chose to locate this hub in Toronto given the strength of the city’s AI talent and the maturity of its life sciences ecosystem, singling these out as two of the factors behind the investment.
According to Jankovic, this centre’s focus is on using tech to develop data and AI products that can accelerate the research and development of new therapies, including speeding up the clinical trial selection process.
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Four years ago, Sanofi also opened Canada’s largest biomanufacturing facility, a new, $800-million site in Toronto to increase its capacity to meet Canadian and global demand for vaccines for whooping cough, diphtheria, and tetanus. The company established that facility with support from the federal, provincial, and municipal governments.
This followed Sanofi’s 2021 announcement of a $925-million Toronto biomanufacturing facility for influenza vaccines with pandemic readiness capabilities.
Sanofi currently employs more than 2,000 people across Canada in research and development, manufacturing, clinical trials, regulatory, distribution, and commercial operations.
According to the Government of Ontario, each year, Sanofi’s Toronto campus produces vaccines that protect over seven million Canadians against infectious diseases.
Feature image courtesy Sanofi.
