Health committee  As you know, we're monitoring ongoing diagnostic clinical trials very closely to determine whether the condition referred to as CCSVI exists, and whether there's an association and an increased prevalence between CCSVI and patients with MS. We're monitoring that closely, not only

Health committee  As soon as we have the evidence that it is indicated and ethically advisable to carry out a clinical trial, as I said, CIHR will have a request for applications for a pan-Canadian clinical trial when and if the conditions are appropriate to do that in a manner that's safe for Can

Health committee  Currently there is not $10 million that has been specifically appropriated for that, but as you know, we have a base budget with money for clinical trials. Should the conditions prevail for such a trial to be indicated, obviously then we would take a step with our partners, inclu

Health committee  If I may, I would add, first of all, that I think you're right. I think brain research is the last frontier. I think we're dealing, in this country, as in many developed countries, with major issues of mental health and also neurological disorders. And with an aging population, a

Health committee  Well, we're certainly hoping it's going to mitigate. Obviously we're funding a lot of research to understand causes of the disease and to treat it at its roots. We realize this can take time, so in parallel we're really focusing research efforts on early diagnosis, early biomarke

Health committee  I think it's an excellent question, and it's something we're looking at, particularly as we're increasing our investments in primary health care research, where we're starting to look at community-based research, community-based researchers. I think for certain aspects of researc

Health committee  Thirty-four million of this money is actually for AIDS research, particularly research focused on the discovery of a new vaccine. It's also for preparing the low- and middle-income countries for clinical trials, once we have a vaccine. It will ensure that we have trained people t

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm pleased to appear before you today in my role as president of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to provide you with an update on recent activities related to multiple sclerosis research in Canada. This devastating disease affects, as you know

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  These are very good questions. Actually, they're all the questions that were discussed at the inaugural meeting that was held in November. Certainly, I will be pleased to post the documents regarding the composition of the committee and a summary of the discussions at our meetin

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  I wasn't aware of that. I'll make sure that--

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  It went up yesterday, I'm told.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  The Canadian neurologists are basically the researchers who received a grant from the MS Society.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  Dr. Brenda Banwell is on that list. She's one of the recipients. They're all the grant recipients.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  There's no Dr. Freedman on the list.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  That's a good point. It has been asked and it will be done.