Health Committee on Nov. 30th, 2009

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

What we're looking for is more in the way of a whole-person approach, social factors, and collaborative approaches to disease prevention.

When I look at the doctor's résumé, I see that in 1981 he completed GP training; from 1981 to 1983, he worked on a small island in western Samoa and then in New Zealand; and then for the next 25 years he was in the employ of the pharmaceutical industry. I guess you could say if you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Dr. Prigent brings a strong pharmaceutical bias to what should be a strategic direction in this council.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

All right, I'm going to have to stop this line of questioning.

Who's next?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

I'd like Dr. Prigent to be able to respond to that bias.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Okay, go ahead. Be careful.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

I think it would be natural in the context of a career that has been fully and almost solely in the pharmaceutical sector.

[Dr. Bernard Prigent]

The work in the pharmaceuticals touches on global health issues. I've worked in pharma in sub-Saharan Africa, and I'm still involved with my former Pfizer colleagues in some malaria programs. The work with pharma doesn't mean that the global health perspective that I had in the initial stages of my career has disappeared. I was involved in setting up a chronic disease management in respiratory medicine in Africa. I collaborated with U.K. physicians and with African physicians. I believe I have maintained my original perspective. It has been strongly enriched by methodological learnings that I've acquired through the years. They are fundamental to the development of new technologies. You cannot develop technologies without looking at methodologies, and these methodologies will inform the work that we mean to establish with the academic communities.

I take your point, but I believe that I have been able to maintain, through my activities and across therapeutic areas, a strong focus on health.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

But that was always within a certain context. Your employers were large pharmaceutical companies and the solutions were pharmaceutical solutions.

[Dr. Bernard Prigent]

Indeed, but you mentioned prevention, and there are a lot of prevention activities that reside in pharma. I have contributed to the study of preventive measures in a whole range of settings, with a pharma perspective. The fact that you're looking at something from a pharma perspective doesn't stop you from looking at issues in a holistic way and extracting lessons that could benefit CIHR.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

You still have a bit more time, Ms. Murray.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

I'd like to ask the same question to Monsieur Beaudet. The governing council is talking about direction and strategy. We have one support letter for this appointment and a number of others against. Doesn't a whole career in the pharmaceutical industry bring a pharmaceutical bias to what should be a neutral approach?

[Dr. Alain Beaudet]

The letter of support you have is a letter of support by the governing council, signed by all members.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

It's the research-based pharmaceutical companies that are supporting it.

[Dr. Alain Beaudet]

Perhaps the other letter was not distributed. There was a letter written to this committee, I think, sent to you on behalf of all members of the governing council.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

They should all have a copy of it. If not, we'll make sure they do.

[Dr. Alain Beaudet]

Thank you.

Clearly what they say is that, after a careful gap analysis, what was glaringly missing in terms of expertise on the council—because we do have experts in public health, experts in global health, experts in basic research, experts in applied research, and experts in health policy—were experts in commercialization, innovation, and development of pharmacology. So I think we are filling a gap that was identified by council members, and I must say that, unanimously, members of council have approved of the nomination and thanked the government for listening to their request to provide someone who could fill that gap.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you, Mr. Beaudet.

Now we'll go to Dr. Carrie—or I'm sorry, Mrs. Davidson, instead.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Thanks, Madam Chair.

And thanks very much to both of you for being here with us this afternoon.

We're hearing different, conflicting stories here. We're talking about all these letters of displeasure, and so on. I received four letters of displeasure and one of support, and now you're telling me there is another one that hasn't been circulated. So in my mind, it really isn't heavily weighted here.

Then there's something else you just said, Dr. Beaudet, that it was a unanimous decision by the council.

[Dr. Alain Beaudet]

If I may, council unanimously approved the nomination of Mr. Prigent. It was welcomed unanimously by council as fulfilling a need.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Thank you very much. I am glad we've made that point clear. There has been some suggestion that perhaps it wasn't unanimous, so I'm glad to hear you clarify that position.

I think one of the other things we've talked about on and off over many years is the fact that there needs to be better rapport and a better working relationship between the public and the private sector. We all know that health research in science and technology is an extremely important area. But it's not only important for the private sector; it's important for the public sector too. To see both sides represented, I think there needs to be that collaboration and the input.

Can you tell me, what are CIHR's current priority areas, and how will the appointment of Dr. Prigent help you work towards that?

[Dr. Alain Beaudet]

Certainly. Actually, I can even recommend excellent reading, which is the strategic plan of CIHR that was just launched a few weeks ago, where our priorities are very clearly outlined.

Without going into a large presentation of our strategic plan, I'll just insist on impartiality and excellence in what we fund, based on excellence, and focusing on excellence and competitiveness internationally, a few select but very important health research priorities based on the needs of Canadians, which includes better support for patient-oriented research, including clinical research; better support for research on our health care system and improving the sustainability of our health care system; better support of research on aboriginal health issues and other vulnerable populations; support for chronic diseases and mental health, which, as you know, are major issues in our society and are only growing with the aging of the population; and further support of research into emerging threats. As you know, some of these emerging threats are infectious in nature—we are living it right now—but we can foresee more of these threats that are, for instance, brought in by climate change.

Those are the five major priorities of CIHR for the next five years. Quite clearly, I can see how critical Dr. Prigent's expertise in clinical research will be in helping us to implement our priority on patient-oriented research strategy, how his superb expertise in research management will help us with our strategy on improving our health care system and the translation of the results of health research into better health care and health outcomes for Canadians. I can see how his expertise with global health will help us respond to the priorities on vulnerable populations, on aboriginal health issues, which, as you know, are very similar to the ones in developing countries, but also on emerging threats, particularly infection. And finally, Dr. Prigent has, as you saw, a wealth of expertise on a number of chronic diseases, which is the last focus in our strategic plan.

So I feel, actually, that he's exceptionally qualified to help us implement these different priorities during the next five years.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

We're pretty well finished now, Ms. Davidson. I'm sorry about that.

I want to thank both of you very much, Mr. Prigent and Mr. Beaudet, for coming today. You've been very helpful and very gracious. Clearly, the expertise before us is something that we do value so much here in Canada. We welcome your input, Mr. Prigent, into the many very vital parts you will be serving in your appointment. Thank you for coming today.

The meeting is adjourned.