It’s time to take some thoughtful, calculated risks with arthritis research

What if I told you that 20 per cent of Canadians live with the same incurable disease, one that leads to other illnesses and is a leading cause of disability, premature death, and socioeconomic burden?

Arthritis is that disease. It affects six million Canadians. Even more shockingly, this number will continue to grow to nine million Canadians, 24 per cent of the population, by 2040 if we don't do things differently. When you combine those figures with the fact that arthritis and related autoimmune disorders are a leading cause of illness and disability in Canada, you get alarming results on the collective toll it takes on our society and economy. The annual economic burden of arthritis in Canada is $33 billion.

Prevalent, painful, pricey. This is arthritis.

And that is why we are sounding the alarm not just today, on World Arthritis Day, but every day.

Recently, I attended an awards event where entrepreneur Lianna Genovese was recognized for her invention, Guided Hands, an assistive device that guides hand movements to enable people with limited hand mobility to write, paint and draw, and access technology through a touch-screen device. Lianna was the People's Choice Award Winner at our inaugural Arthritis Ideator Awards last year. I see in Lianna exactly what we need in our healthcare system – more tenacity, more audacity, more thoughtful risk-taking.

Canada's healthcare system is acute care focused – primarily based on hospital care and a payment system for doctors. It is designed for efficiency in checking in and checking out. What it is not designed for is longer-term needs. The system was not built to be sustainable in an era of chronic diseases, where people need more information, more time, more ongoing support.

Chronic diseases are a significant concern for Canadians, with more-than half of the population over the age of 20 having one or more of these diseases. Over seven-in-10 Canadians are worried about getting arthritis, or fear they already have it. Chronic diseases are suffocating our healthcare system.

There is a fundamental need to change our approach to healthcare in Canada if we are to address complex, long-term needs. The system must activate its risk-taking ability.

Innovation is not just about invention but also about experimenting and taking risks with funding models and healthcare design. Pioneering ideas need a safe place to make some mistakes but still move forward.

How do we bring that thoughtful, risk-taking into our healthcare system?

For us, it started with a mindset – we need and want to do things differently. One example is Arthritis Society Canada's Ignite Research Grants – funding high-risk, high-reward projects that could be scaled to transform arthritis care. We expect most ideas will fail. I will repeat that – we expect most ideas will fail.

If innovators listened to every person who told them their idea would not work, we would still be in the dark ages. Instead of focusing on the 100 reasons not to do something, we need to focus on the one way to say yes.

Thoughtful risk-taking also needs a commitment to learning and adaptation. Another way Arthritis Society Canada is bringing innovations to people is a Social Impact project helping to operationalize a newborn screening process. This screening system will catch hip dysplasia early so that babies do not go on to have severe osteoarthritis as young adults, saving our health system significant costs while transforming the lives of thousands of babies and children.

In recent years, Canada has strengthened its start-up capability in healthcare. But there is a gap from start-up and research to delivery and scale up, so solutions are not reaching people who need them.

How can we do a better job of not leaving research on the lab floor? By removing the myriad technological, regulatory, and administrative barriers plaguing our healthcare system and stifling advancements and innovation. Doing so would prevent and treat chronic conditions before they become unmanageable.

Today is World Arthritis Day. We call on government, corporations, investors and inventors to act now. We need to remove barriers, take thoughtful risks and ensure big returns in arthritis research and innovation. We won’t give up until everyone is free of the painful and devastating impact of this disease.

Trish Barbato is President and CEO of Arthritis Society Canada