Bernard Thebaud is researching how stem cells can be used to treat lung injuries in extremely premature infants. His research was supported by the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which recently announced that the Ontario Government was not renewing its funding after its contract ends next year.
Bernard Thebaud is researching how stem cells can be used to treat lung injuries in extremely premature infants. His research was supported by the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which recently announced that the Ontario Government was not renewing its funding after its contract ends next year.
The government of Ontario is spending over $60 billion on health care this year. You would expect a fiscally responsible government that brands itself as “Open for Business” would want to see potential economic return for that expenditure. In particular, you might think the government would exploit areas where Ontario has a competitive advantage for innovation and commercial benefit.
Ontario has a competitive “edge” in developing two fields that are achieving the trifecta of improving health, reducing health care costs and achieving commercial opportunity. Surprisingly, the government is reducing its commitment to these potential opportunities rather than supporting made in Ontario cures and economic growth.
The first area is regenerative medicine. Ontario scientists Jim Till and Ernest McCulloch invented this topic of scientific study when they discovered blood forming stem cells in the early 1960s. Subsequent focus on cell and organ regeneration in this province has resulted in the Toronto General Hospital doubling the availability of lung transplants for Ontarians by regenerating organs that were previously inappropriate for use.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Our expertise in regenerative medicine has also resulted in substantial investment in Ontario — for instance the $225 million creation of BlueRock Therapeutics at University Health Network and MaRS in 2017.
The other area of notable expertise in the province relates to the health care applications of artificial intelligence (AI). Ontario’s universities and industry are recognized for innovation in AI and improving health care is an important application of this rapidly evolving field.
Artificial intelligence enhances the power of prediction. Predicting who will respond to standard therapies and who will need enhanced treatments is one of the most important challenges in health care today. To develop better prediction through AI, data availability is an essential asset and Ontario is a superb custodian of accessible health care data through organizations like the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Science and Cancer Care Ontario.
Our health expertise in AI is already paying dividends for patients and for job creation in Ontario. Researchers at Princess Margaret Hospital have reduced the planning time for radiation treatment of cancer from tens of hours to minutes using AI approaches. This innovation is not only improving treatment and cost effectiveness of cancer care in Ontario today, it is also creating Ontario jobs through licensing deals with international medical suppliers.
Given this evidence that regenerative medicine and artificial intelligence are effective in improving care, reducing costs and bringing new jobs to the province, it is difficult to understand the government’s decision to stop funding the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine (OIRM), the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) and to reduce its contribution to the Vector Institute at the University of Toronto.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
OIRM has encouraged early stage clinical trials that test the impact of stem cells on difficult health challenges, such as how to improve heart pumping after heart attack. OIRM is crucially important in funding new stem cell treatments in Ontario and it is hard to imagine alternate funding for these early stage clinical tests without OIRM.
CIFAR will lose $4 million in annual funding and Vector will lose $20 million of a three-year provincial $30 million commitment. Both of these organizations are credited with building the artificial intelligence workforce in Ontario. As the world recognizes the importance of AI in finance, marketing and business services as well as health care, the competition for AI talent is fierce. Reducing Ontario’s commitment to training and recruiting new entrants to our AI workforce is simply wrong-headed.
These budget cuts total $19 million annually or a minute fraction of the current Ontario health budget. There are alternative major potential savings in health care, such as reduction in unnecessary services that the Canadian Institute of Health Information states are provided to patients, or allowing for substitution of bio-similar drugs for brand-named biologics as B.C. announced this week.
Reducing unnecessary care or switching drugs is difficult for the government. It is hard work explaining to voters why services must change. It is much easier to reduce investment in developing new treatments — even if these treatments offer jobs and investment as well as better care.
This is a sad example of short-sighted planning that exemplifies the approach that this government is taking to changing health care delivery in Ontario.
Bob Bell worked in Ontario health care for more than 40 years as a GP, surgeon, hospital CEO and Deputy Minister of Health. Follow him on Twitter: @drbobbell
