Collaboration to strengthen clinical research in Canada

Ottawa, ON – With the goal of strengthening clinical research in Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) have announced they are joining forces to support clinical research across the spectrum from translational research to clinical trials and observational studies. The organizations say they are tentatively planning to issue a call for proposals in early November 2005, with awards to be announced in June 2007.

Although there could be different approaches to national/regional clinical research initiatives, this joint initiative would focus on the following:

h Clinical Research Centres: Nationally networked centres would be located within the health care system, supporting excellent clinical research, training, and the translation of knowledge. These centres would house a broad range of equipment, tools, and techniques, and bring together researchers and skilled technical personnel to conduct innovative clinical research across the continuum of care. Support would be provided for the costs of physical infrastructure through the CFI’s Research Hospital Fund. The CIHR would provide long-term operating costs, associated research training, and salary support for the clinician-researchers who would be mentors in the training environment.

h Clinical Research Platforms: These would include clinical trials methods centres and informatics and statistical cores, technology cores for high-throughput biological analyses, biobanks, and data repositories. The platforms would offer their services on a regional/national basis. Support would be provided for the costs of physical infrastructure and operating costs.