Health research essential to improving health care system, says CIHR president

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s (CIHR) plans for a greater role in commercialization have been enhanced following the successful resolution of the First Ministers accord on health care. The accord’s final communique commits to “continued investments” in health innovation to “facilitate and accelerate the adoption and evaluation of new models of health protection and chronic disease management”.

This and other key wording in the outpouring of paperwork following the accord are music to the ears of CIHR president Dr Alan Bernstein. Momentum is building on the implementation of CIHR’s ambitious knowledge translation agenda and it is putting the final touches on a comprehensive commercialization strategy slated for release later this fall. That strategy will not only focus on maintaining the basic research pipeline for health research but also zero in on bridging gaps in the process from lab bench to marketplace before private sector uptake becomes feasible.

“In creating CIHR, the government has created an engine of innovation and we are ready at their service,” says Bernstein. “I’m encouraged that evidence and innovation figured in (the accord). Politicians understand that you need evidence and you need people and that’s where CIHR comes in.”

Bernstein cites Prime minister Paul Martin’s opening remarks at the First Ministers’ Meeting and those made by Quebec premier Jean Charest as clear indications that research and innovation are viewed as an integral component of the health accord’s objective of providing Canadians with timely access to medical services and treatment.

“There are three kinds of return on investment: commercialization, the health of Canadians and developing an evidence-based, sustainable health care system,” says Bernstein. “We want to make the point on commercialization but broaden the debate to other benefits of knowledge translation.”

This includes expanding the agency’s successful proof of principle programs and the consolidation of three granting programs into a new team grants program. Up to $15 million annually will be made available for health research teams composed of health researchers, health care professionals and policy makers. Awards can go up to $2 million annually for five years and a request for applications will be issued soon.

The pending commercialization strategy will contain several proposals that Bernstein asserts will target critical gaps. A proposed centre of health innovation program is designed to address training requirements within the venture capital (VC) community itself. Canada’s business schools will be engaged to encourage scientific training of MBA students so that they can help to fill growing shortages of management in VC firms and biotechology companies.

Another component of the strategy is a proposed clinical trials and health services network. Dr John Cairns, former dean of medicine at the Univ of British Columbia, is leading development of a multi-pronged proposal to address long-term career paths for young clinician researchers and establish a network of clinical research facilities. Part of the latter thrust will be to make Canada a preferred site for clinical trials. The network would be able to add value to the huge number of molecules and drugs coming down the pipeline and develop a labour pool to conduct clinical trials. The network would involve a broad coalition of stakeholders including health care professionals, industry, provincial governments, patient groups, charities and potentially the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

“This will be our largest initiative (and) a key element in bringing health care professionals to the table,” says Bernstein. “It will also provide significant income to the health care system, develop a culture of evidence and provide Canadians with better health care.”

PRECARN & ITAC WEIGH IN

CIHR is not the only group pushing for more research and technology in Canada’s health care system. Precarn Inc and the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) hosted a technology demonstration event during the First Ministers’ Meeting to demonstrate the cost savings potential to health care of robotics and intelligent systems as well as information and communications technology (ICT).

“You win on all fronts by using advanced technology in health care. Intelligent systems are a very important subset of the technologies that are used in hospitals,” says Precarn president/CEO Dr Tony Eyton. “Over the past four or five years, we've been seeing an increase in the number of proposals from companies and universities that have to do with health care.

Also speaking at the event was ITAC president Bernard Courtois, who stated that the health care sector is a huge underuser of ICT. Courtois called upon the federal government to help create a “virtuous cycle” by matching Canadian health care needs with this country’s world leading ICT capability.

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