Funding boost needed for medical research
Canada has fallen well behind OECD average,
Last spring, Quebec’s research community enthusiastically welcomed the new Quebec Research and Innovation Strategy and the new Life Sciences Strategy. Through these strategies particularly, the government of Quebec will inject an additional $830 million by 2021-2022 to stimulate research and innovation and the training of a new generation of researchers.
Quebec represents a driving force for health research in Canada, with a number of centres and institutes in the field of health research, 17 of which currently receive financial support from the Fonds de recherche du Québec — Santé (FRQS). These centres and institutes provide a fertile environment for over 3,300 researchers in 2016-2017 and contributed to the training of more than 6,400 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.
The budget increases made it possible for the three Fonds de recherche du Québec, including the Fonds Santé (FRQS), to offer a greater number of training and career awards this year, and to increase grants to research centres and institutes. These grants will total more than $6.925 million for the year 2017-2018. These investments make our students and researchers highly competitive nationally and internationally. Every dollar invested in centres and institutes over a 12-year period earns them more than $13 in external funding.
These new investments are a breath of fresh air, but they are not enough. Provincial funding is primarily directed toward infrastructure and training or career awards. Most funding for research programs within Quebec comes from Canada’s federal granting agencies, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the health sector. Unfortunately, CIHR funding has stagnated over the past 12 years, while the number of students and researchers applying for scholarships and grants has grown steadily, as has the basic cost of research.
Major discoveries are often the result of fundamental research conducted in Quebec. For example: early detection of breast cancer through genomics; the mobilization of the immune system to prevent and treat neurodegenerative diseases; the development of the EOS medical imaging system to allow the 3D modelling of bone structures of the human body using only two low dose X-ray images for the diagnosis and choice of orthopedic and surgical treatment; developments in nanorobotics for the deployment of bacteria that allows precise delivery of a drug to tumours; approaches to the treatment of AIDS by antivirals; the characterization of antigens leading to innovative treatments for leukemia; major breakthroughs in the diagnosis of neurological diseases through the use of cerebral imaging.
While the impacts — or rather, the return on investment — of fundamental research may be spread over decades, only through sustained and constant efforts will we be able to address the major challenges facing our society, such as sustainable development, the aging population and climate change.
The Naylor Report, released earlier this year by the expert panel charged with reviewing the federal government’s support of fundamental science, points out that Canada is no longer among the top 30 nations in terms of investment in research. The report mentions that research and development spending in Canada has been on the decline for several years, representing just 1.69 per cent of the country’s gross national product in 2013 (the most recent data), compared to an average of 2.37 per cent in OECD countries. It emphasizes that the three federal granting agencies are severely underfunded, and strongly recommends a major federal reinvestment in health research.
It is our wish that the recommendations of this report be implemented immediately, to bring about beneficial, effective and sustainable change for research. The resulting synergy between federal and provincial governments will enhance our research capacity, train tomorrow’s scientists, and provide tangible support for the development of a true knowledge society, for the greater benefit of all Canadians.