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MITRAS Medical Advisory
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Medical R&D funding in Canada

Funding for medical research in Canada.

There are two main kinds: tax credits for research you’ve already done (SR&ED), and grants for work you haven’t started yet. Ethan helps you work out which ones fit your project before you spend time on applications.

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Where should you start?

With the project itself: what’s already done, what comes next and who is paying for it. Those answers rule most programs in or out quickly.

Medical research often involves several organizations at once, such as your medical corporation, a hospital and a university. The funding has to go to the right one, so Ethan sorts that out first.

Choose a starting point.

Official sources

Tell Ethan what you’re working on.

A 15-minute call is enough to point you to the right starting point. A rough idea of the budget and timing helps.

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Funding FAQs

Common questions.

The work has to be an experiment: your team faced a question that existing knowledge couldn’t answer and tested ways to answer it. A Canadian company has to have paid for it, and the claim has to be filed within 18 months of that company’s tax year-end. A hard project or a disappointing result doesn’t decide it either way.

SR&ED is a tax credit for experimental work you’ve already done. A grant usually pays for a project before it starts, under the program’s own rules about who can apply and what it covers.

Sometimes. One project can include both grant-funded work and SR&ED work, but the two have to be kept apart carefully. A grant can also reduce the costs you claim for SR&ED.

Before the work starts. Many programs only take applications at set times and won’t pay for costs you’ve already incurred. Starting early also leaves time to line up partners and a budget.

The CRA can ask for records showing the experimental work and the costs. Usually a research and technology advisor looks at the science and a financial reviewer looks at the numbers.

Ethan answers the CRA’s or Revenu Québec’s questions with you, technical or financial, and it’s included in the fee. There is no hourly charge for it.