Thank you.
I want to thank the chair for the invitation to present before this committee.
My group represents CancerCare Manitoba, a provincial cancer agency, and the regenerative medicine program at the University of Manitoba.
As the fourth presenter, forgive me if I repeat some of the comments that have been made, but it will re-emphasize the unity of feeling, and I hope it gives you some idea of the need for across-the-country infrastructure and expertise development.
We are using the definition of stem cells the same way other researchers have used it here, and are not focusing on hematopoietic stem cells.
The University of Manitoba and CancerCare Manitoba, together with local, provincial, and federal partners, have identified stem cells as a strategic research priority. As a result, the university has established a dedicated regenerative medicine program, appointing Dr. Geoff Hicks as the director. Major sources have been mobilized regionally for this effort, but I realize that in the context we're talking about, such as the California investment, this must seem a very small amount. For us it's a substantial effort that includes newly designed laboratory space of nearly 25,000 square feet, six tenure-track faculty positions, two of which are Canada research chairs, and major equipment infrastructure, including flow cytometry and stem cell culture facilities, as well as access to the Faculty of Medicine's transgenic, genomic, proteomic, and bioinformatics platforms.
The vision, as we've heard, is to pursue discoveries in stem cell biology and to facilitate their translation into the clinic. The program is well aligned with major research strengths at our institution in cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and so on.
This infrastructure support occurred, I may emphasize, at a time marked by limited new resources, which reflects the strategic priority our organizations have placed on this. As we have heard, we are at a stage that could radically change the way we treat a wide variety of diseases, including cancer, which we believe, for many of the malignancies we treat, is driven by cancer stem cells. However, all parts of the body depend on some form of self-renewal, and stem cells are at the heart of that process.
As we've heard, we're at the doorstep of rethinking how we manage a wide variety of chronic and major diseases: developmental defects, congenital heart disease, spinal cord injury, and all the other diseases we have heard about.
I'm delighted that we are part of that network, in which Canada is at the forefront, for stem cell research. But as we heard, we need to maintain that impetus by developing capacity across the country. There is a need to support the private sector to move these discoveries into the market and provide the high-tech jobs we've heard about.
But times are changing, and Canadians' expectations of the health care system are changing very rapidly. We've seen elements of that, because families, as they cope with the devastating effects of brain injury from birth insult, and degenerative loss of function from Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, and so on, are seeing that all of these are potentially treatable with stem cell therapy, and patients are desperate for new treatments. As a result, more and more Canadians are seeking treatment at foreign medical tourism destinations, or will seek such treatment in the future if we do not step up to the plate and develop that capacity to offer therapies across the country.
We need the infrastructure that we heard about, including regulatory bodies, so that we are in a position to rapidly translate these technologies into the clinical use.
We believe these therapies will create personal, financial, medical, and government crises if we do not proceed with a transparent and comprehensive program and framework to bring these studies into clinical use. That will require the support of basic and translational research across the Canadian health spectrum.
We must be prepared to rapidly bring these technologies through well-designed clinical trials that cover all phases of treatment and development, including not only the early phase trials that test safety and demonstrate efficacy, but also large multi-centre trials that are well designed to address the need for the new treatments and how they improve outcomes and replace standard treatment.
We must be prepared to monitor, in a new way, for unexpected side effects that could occur years later. All along the way there will be observations that need to be taken back to the laboratory for further investigation, and it is critical to have, across Canada, a robust pool of clinical scientists.
There needs to be flexibility in funding to support laboratory studies driven by clinical observations, in a timely manner. In tandem with basic and clinical research, new research initiatives into ethics, cost effectiveness, and the utility of these treatments will be necessary.
We know that clinical trials are expensive and difficult to mount at the level that we are discussing here. So we will have to bolster existing networks, such as the National Cancer Institute clinical trials network, and develop this capacity right across the country so that we can apply what we have heard will be paradigm-changing.
Dr. Rossant talked about the regulatory issues, so I will not address them.
National health care policy planners and provincial health care programs must work with researchers to ensure that financial and infrastructure supports are in place to take these discoveries into routine care. Special laboratories and facilities will be necessary.
Our greatest challenge is really to meet the expectations of Canadians to provide treatments, and even cures, for currently untreatable diseases. I believe building capacity right across the country will be absolutely essential to prevent inequalities in access to these new and exciting and innovative treatments.
Thank you.