Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would first like to thank your committee for inviting me to speak to you about research activities dealing with neurological diseases in Canada and to provide you with an update on recent activity related to multiple sclerosis.
Today I would like to highlight some of CIHR's strategic initiatives that will help us better understand, prevent, or provide better treatments for neurological diseases. First, I'd like to give a few examples of how CIHR-funded research has already had a major impact on health outcomes for Canadians living with neurological diseases.
Since its inception in 2000, CIHR has invested $1.1 billion in the field of neuroscience, and this investment has been fruitful. A sizeable proportion of these investments have been in the area of neurodegenerative diseases, notably in studies on the pathophysiology and treatment of Parkinson's disease. As you may know, this chronic and progressive brain disorder can give rise to major motor impairments, which include rigidity and tremors.
Clinical studies carried out by Andres Lozano of the University of Toronto have confirmed a beneficial effect of deep brain stimulation surgery for the treatment of the cardinal motor features of Parkinson's disease. While the likelihood of improvement varied from symptom to symptom and from patient to patient, the surgery was found to be very effective in reducing motor fluctuations and involuntary movements—the primary reasons for patients' intolerance of medical therapy.
As another example, Dr. Bin Hu, a CIHR-funded professor from the University of Calgary, has developed an innovative tool called a “gait reminder” to help people living with Parkinson's disease have better walking movements. This new device computes leg movements and reminds individuals to take large steps to remain stable. Such a device prevents falls and helps prolong the functional mobility of individuals living with Parkinson's disease.
Important progress has also been made to better understand and treat traumatic brain injuries, including concussions and post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. As you know, PTSD occurs after exposure to a terrifying ordeal, such as military combat, and treating this disease has proven a challenge. However, CIHR-funded research programs have shown promising results in the treatment of this disorder. For instance, Dr. Gordon Asmundson from the University of Regina found that exposure therapy, where patients are exposed to prolonged and repeated images of trauma until the images no longer cause anxiety, can be very effective in treating this disorder.
CIHR also supports innovative research aimed at improving the lives of paralyzed people. For example, CIHR has contributed to the work of Dr. Popovic from the University of Toronto on the development of neuroprosthesis to improve grasping function in spinal cord injured and hemiplegic individuals. By being able to grasp and hold objects with this prosthesis, paralyzed individuals can significantly improve their independence in activities of daily living.
As you heard earlier, as a result of population aging, we are facing a worrisome increase in neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. That is why the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and their charity partners have launched the International Collaborative Research Strategy for Alzheimer's Disease. Some of the strategy's goals are to prevent and delay the development of the disease, stop or slow down its progression and enable the health care system to face the challenges of long-term care for patients suffering from the disease. It is important to point out that this initiative is based on the development of many international partners, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Italy and China. We have prioritized an international cooperative approach in other areas of neurological sciences and especially in traumatic brain injury research.
In 2011 in Brussels, Canadian Institutes of Health Research and their European Union counterparts implemented an international initiative of over $50 million to address traumatic brain injury. In addition to that initiative, efforts are being invested nationally to advance research in this area. As part of those efforts, the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute recently joined CIHR in order to develop a Canadian national initiative on traumatic brain injury.
In addition to those initiatives on specific neurological diseases, some more general initiatives have been implemented by Canadian Institutes of Health Research in order to understand the origin and cause of certain diseases and provide—thanks to the latest technology—more specific and more effective diagnoses and treatments.
For instance, to better understand the interaction between genetic and environmental factors in the development of neurological diseases, CIHR has recently launched a Canadian epigenetics, environment, and health research consortium. We hope this initiative will help us develop better prevention and treatment programs, and rapidly translate epigenetic discoveries into new diagnostic procedures.
In the same vein, to better understand the genetic prevalence and signatures of diseases, and hence to be able to offer more targeted treatments, we have recently launched, in partnership with Genome Canada, a large-scale initiative on personalized medicine. This initiative represents a federal investment of $67.5 million, to be matched one to one by private and provincial partners, for a total investment of $135 million in personalized medicine. We're confident that this major investment will help us offer new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for a variety of disorders, including neurodegenerative diseases.
I would like to conclude by providing you with an update on the actions undertaken by CIHR in the field of multiple sclerosis. As you know, in 2009, Italian physician Paolo Zamboni proposed that the blockage of veins in the neck and chest, a condition he referred to as chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency, or CCSVI, was the cause of MS, and he suggested that opening these veins would relieve the patients' MS symptoms.
It is important to realize that this proposed venous angioplasty procedure is not a routine procedure. As stated by the Alberta Health Services, and I quote:
...there are no situations where venous angioplasty is an accepted and satisfactory treatment....Therefore, the claims that venous angioplasty is a “routinely done procedure” are not true.
Researchers around the world are still questioning the safety and the efficacy of the procedure. Important initiatives have been undertaken around the world to better understand the CCSVI condition and its potential impact on the health of MS patients.
As part of this effort, CIHR has launched a call for proposals for a phase one and two therapeutic clinical trial to determine whether the proposed procedure is safe and efficient. The application deadline for this funding opportunity was yesterday. An international peer review committee has been established to review the applications received and a research team will be selected by the end of the month.
I am pleased to say that CIHR is working in close collaboration with the provinces and territories, and the MS Society on this important initiative, and that our approach to move cautiously has been endorsed by key health organizations, such as the Canadian Medical Association, the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada, the Collège des médecins du Québec, and the Canadian Society for Vascular Surgery, as well as other international health research organizations.
I will gladly provide this committee with future updates on MS as they become available.
Thank you.