Thank you, Chris.
Hello to everyone.
For most of the 35-plus years l have conducted medical research, l've done it in academic health care organizations, where almost 80% of all medical research takes place in this country. Why? This is the research real estate, where the patients, health care professionals, and scientists work together to discover new ways to recognize, prevent, and treat disease. They attract top medical talent from around the world to Canada, and they partner with industry to increase treatment options and test new technologies. Increasingly, they are the basis for commercial activities that, in our view, will turn Canadian investment in health research into fuel for the knowledge-based economy and better health.
My organization, the University Health Network, is home to individuals who have produced history-making treatments and technologies that have changed the face of health care here and around the world. To meet our commercialization challenges, we have a dedicated staff of 12 professionals skilled in commercialization. For our size, this is half to one-third the number a similar institution in the United States would have.
We have also launched the Techna Institute to focus specifically on identifying unmet clinical needs and shortening the length of time it takes to develop and bring products to the market that address these needs. Again, this is funded through donations.
However, I think more can be done. Across our country there is reason to question whether the current model of benefits from academic health care organizations is sustainable and whether we are maximizing our potential.
We depend on charitable donations and foundation dollars to fund the infrastructure necessary to identify commercial opportunities. Our existing programs, while helpful, do not provide sufficient prototype development funding. In our brief you will find a full discussion of the barriers we would like to draw to your attention.
The experience of other countries can help us, however. The small business technology transfer program in the United States funds development of discoveries from the hospital/university sector partnered with small companies. The small business innovation research program, also in the U.S., is a similar program, designed to help the companies themselves.
Another approach may be the credentialling of research hospitals in a manner that ties responsibility for medical innovation to additional infrastructure support funding. This model is seen in the “comprehensive cancer center” designation in the United States. The additional funding, competitively won, would allow the development, application, and commercialization of technology advances.
l would envision a network of 30 to 40 academic health care organizations across Canada developing and sharing innovations in health care delivery, and each of these acting as a local hub to disseminate evidence-based advances to every hospital in the country. This can be tied to an innovation fund, such as the national health innovation fund, that could also assist in leveraging specific funding.
If most provincial spending on health care is restricted to current practice, and federal funding is not tied to the expectation of innovation or improvement, we have a problem. No successful business, particularly not one with such a heavy reliance on technology, will excel without a rational plan to invest in change. That is what we need. We have the opportunity to do this in Canada. We should not leave it to chance.
Thank you.