Thank you, Madam Chair.
It is with great pleasure that I appear before you today in my role at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to discuss the important issue of multiple sclerosis research in Canada.
Your committee is holding important hearings on the matter, and I'm happy to share this time with other witnesses, including Dr. Zamboni, whose new therapeutic approach for chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency gives hope to patients and their loved ones who face the burden of this debilitating disease every day.
Let me first share with you what CIHR is doing in the area of MS.
The CIHR is determined to move our knowledge of multiple sclerosis forward and to speed up research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of this terrible disease. Our strategic plan, developed as recently as 2009, speaks to our commitment, as we have made reducing the burden of chronic diseases one of its five priorities.
Multiple sclerosis is a key element in this priority, because Canada has one of the highest rates of this disease in the world. Multiple sclerosis is the most common neurological disease affecting young adults, especially young women, and, every day, three people in Canada are diagnosed with the disease.
CIHR's commitment to MS research is reflected in the funding it has made in this area. CIHR has invested over $45 million directly in MS-related research. In addition, CIHR has provided important investments in the area of neurosciences, with over $120 million in 2008-09 alone, and a further $38 million in stem cell research, both of which will help researchers pursue potentially useful therapies for the treatment of diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
The studies supported by this funding have provided significant new insights into the pathological mechanisms underlying MS.
While the recently developed CCSVI treatment opens new potential therapeutic avenues for some of the patients suffering from MS, it is critical, as was said previously by my colleagues, to ensure that these avenues are explored through research conducted according to the highest standards of scientific excellence to assess if the treatment is both safe and effective. Indeed, evidence-based practice is the cornerstone of our health care system here in Canada.
It is for these reasons that CIHR, as one of its top priorities, has decided to invest in patient-oriented care in Canada to improve the uptake of clinical results in actual practice. We call this our strategy on patient-oriented research.
This strategy for patient-oriented research is built on the principle that there is a growing need to conduct intervention studies in order to address important clinical issues, as is the case with the clinical trials on multiple sclerosis that we are discussing today. These studies involve large numbers of patients who are receiving health-care services in many settings across the country. The results from such trials provide the basis for clinical practice providing accurate patient diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.
It is clear from the present hearings and the extraordinary hope that has arisen from the early results of Dr. Zamboni's procedure that research into clinical treatment of MS has to be accelerated.
What is critical, however, is to ensure that we invest in research wisely, in well-designed studies that are safe for patients and that are likely to yield scientifically valid results. In this context, CIHR will be convening, in collaboration with the MS Society of Canada, a meeting of top Canadian and international researchers in the field.
This meeting is to be held in August and will focus on how best to accelerate research and innovation in MS, with a focus on potential links between neurovascular issues and MS, including CCSVI. These researchers will review current international efforts and research gaps focused on neurovascular research related to MS. The expected outcome will be a richer understanding of clinical research priorities regarding potential innovations related to diagnosis and treatment of MS.
In the meantime, CIHR and the MS Society of Canada are working together on a daily basis, and I urge researchers interested in better understanding the linkages between MS and CCSVI to apply for CIHR's funding opportunities.
Thank you, Madam Chair.