Major Funding for Scleroderma Research

The Canadian Scleroderma Research Group (CSRG)has been working very hard over the last three years in seeking funding from the federal government. They recently received wonderful news to reward their efforts.

On April 10, 2007, the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritisthe (IMHA), in partnership with Pfizer Canada, approved, subject to resolution of an overlap issue, $1,497,030 to support a research program involving established and new scleroderma researchers from a variety of backgrounds. This team will address knowledge gaps by focusing on the following immediate goals:

1) develop more sensitive classification criteria; 2) create subsets of disease using, among other instruments, autoantibody profiles; 3) develop a disease activity index and a damage index.

The team will engage in active Knowledge Transfer and Exchange among the lay and scientific communities and policy makers.

The ultimate objective is to advance the study of scleroderma in Canada, dramatically, and to provide a platform “… for interventional studies aimed at identifying disease-modifying therapies and improving the quality of life of patients with scleroderma.”

Soon after the announcement of this grant, the CSRG received additional good news. On March 15, 2007, the IMHA approved $1.8M to increase the number of new scleroderma researchers in Canada over the next six years.

Our congratulations and thanks to the entire Canadian Scleroderma Research Group and, in particular, Principal Investigators Murray Baron, Anie Philip, Janet Pope, and Andrew Leask, their 14 Co-Investigators, their eight Research Collaborators, their 11 Participating Rheumatologists, and the following Patient Representative Collaborators: Mary Brachaniec and Bob Buzza (Co-Chairs, Knowledge Transfer Exchange Committee), Shirley Haslam, Phil Hughes, Mare Pacy, and Normand Ricard.

Over $3.5 M in scleroderma research funding has been been approved by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research since February 2007. This level of support is unprecedented, and heartening. We look forward to sharing results with you.

Submitted by Bob Buzza, Research Liaison Officer, Scleroderma Society of Canada.