TORONTO — Dr. Daniel Drucker, a University of Toronto researcher whose work contributed to the blockbuster drug Ozempic, says it’s a “tragedy for Canada” that the country exports its science overseas while also failing to properly fund it.

Speaking at MaRS’s Impact Health conference in Toronto on Wednesday, Drucker called for more public backing for academic experimentation. “We just do not invest in basic science research in this country,” he said, claiming that Canada lags behind its peers. “Politicians don’t care, because nobody’s marching in the streets [or] writing in, other than the scientists.” Canada’s spending on all kinds of research and development as a whole makes up a smaller share of the economy than the average in the G7 or the OECD, according to Statistics Canada.

He likened the export of scientific discoveries to criticism that Canada simply ships its water and minerals overseas, benefiting other countries rather than itself.

Drucker is a high-profile addition to a long-standing debate about the country’s approach to science. Starting at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital in the 1980s, the endocrinologist helped discover the hormone GLP-1 and reveal how it works. That chemical is the inspiration for a new class of diabetes medications like Ozempic and Wegovy that have become immensely popular as fast-acting solutions for weight loss. 

Drucker’s U of T lab is now working to figure out whether GLP-1 could be used to treat conditions driven by inflammation as well as brain disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research have provided about $10.5 million in funding for his work since 2008, agency disclosures show. 

Canadian universities and government-appointed panels have repeatedly called for policymakers to increase funding for basic science. After several years of letdowns, the Liberal government’s 2024 budget added $1.8 billion over five years and $750 million in additional cash for the federal granting councils, which fund academic research projects.

Drucker also criticized the Trump administration’s funding cuts to the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration. He said few people realize how “fantastic” North America’s scientific infrastructure is “until it gets really broken.”

Tech founders and economists have long noted that foreign firms often benefit from commercializing inventions made in Canada and funded with public support. While Drucker and his Mass General colleagues have received acclaim for their early work on GLP-1, it was multinational drug companies that capitalized on the breakthrough. Also on Wednesday, Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk, which is based in Denmark, reported a net profit of 29 billion kroner ($6.1 billion) in the first quarter on net sales of 78 billion ($16.4 billion). The firm has grown so fast it’s now a significant factor in Denmark’s overall economic performance.

While one of his research positions at U of T is partly funded by Novo Nordisk, Drucker has said he hasn’t personally received any royalties from the GLP-1 drugs. Although he criticized Canada’s habit of losing scientific discoveries to other countries at the event Wednesday, he cited personal reasons for not launching a startup to commercialize his own findings.

“I was very young when a lot of these discoveries and inventions were made in my lab,” he said, noting the overlapping demands of his three-child family, medical practice, municipal endocrinology position and teaching responsibilities. “I had zero time.”