Health Committee on June 15th, 2010

[Dr. Alain Beaudet]

I cannot give a precise answer to that question because it hasn't been approved by Treasury Board yet. What I can tell you is that a portion of that $16 million will be invested in clinical trials and that we welcome applications to CIHR for clinical trials on MS. The deadline for registration is August 16.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you.

When will the request for proposals go out and what will be the size of the grants that are available for clinical trials? And will there be a treatment arm?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

CIHR has invested $45 million in MS research to date. As Dr. Beaudet said, the application process, as far as I understand, is open now. The deadline for the peer review is August.

[Dr. Alain Beaudet]

So the competition is open, the deadline for registration for a new clinical trial would be August 16, and the final proposal in the beginning of September.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

What is the specific request that's going out to the research community?

[Dr. Alain Beaudet]

It's for open clinical trials, and any proposal for a clinical trial related to MS will be evaluated on the base--

[A voice]

MS?

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Is it specific to CCSVI or more broadly to MS?

[Dr. Alain Beaudet]

It is totally broad.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

I think there's concern among patients across the country that right now there is no treatment arm being funded in Canada. Of the $2.4 million, only $700,000....

I would like to also ask, who will be reviewing this? It's important, if we are going to look at CCSVI and the liberation treatment, that this include vascular researchers and not just neurologists. So who's on the review panel? I guess that's what I'm asking.

[Dr. Alain Beaudet]

I think we're looking at a two-phased approach here. Right now, as I said, we want to put part of the money—and it hasn't been approved yet, so I can't give you a specific number—out of the new $16 million in additional funds that we receive into clinical trials, and we are hopeful that we will receive applications for clinical trials looking at chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency, and a clinical trial for that. That's the first element.

The other element is to look more broadly into what are the gaps in our knowledge, particularly in terms of relationship within cerebrospinal venous drainage, but also, more broadly, cerebral-vascular problems and MS, and what are the research gaps and how, in a second phase, we can fund specifically research in those areas in which we find true gaps.

Our role is—

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Dr. Beaudet, I'm going to interrupt for a second. The government—

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Joyce Murray]

Excuse me, Dr. Duncan. Your time is up.

I do want to thank all of the witnesses and the minister for appearing. I appreciate you taking the time to do this.

I would like to remind the committee that the Subcommittee on Neurological Disease is meeting at 11:30 at 131 Queen Street.

The meeting is now adjourned. Thank you.