CIHR continues to develop international effort to combat Alzheimer's

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is forging ahead with new international agreements on neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) as it continues discussions with government officials on its plan to make Canada a world leader in the field. On June 10, CIHR signed a cooperation agreement with the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the UK's Medical Research Council to harmonize guidelines and technologies for research.

The agreement will see each side contribute one million Euros ($1.3 million) which will go towards pilot studies and workshops and will serve as the basis for applying to a European Union joint programming fund for NDs and in particular Alzheimer's. The tri-nation pact follows a 2008 agreement to fund joint research teams on Alzheimer's and related diseases between CIHR, Quebec's Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec, (FRSQ) and France's Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM). CIHR's contribution is $1.4 million.

CIHR has made leadership in Alzheimer's research a key thrust of its new strategic plan and requested additional funding in the last federal Budget to finance such an initiative. While specific funding was not allocated, CIHR president Dr Alain Beaudet says part of the $16 million in new money received in Budget 2010 will be used for this purpose.

"We're moving slowly but surely … We're still hopeful for more funding," says Beaudet. "We have the capacity to deliver and I want to make sure it is funded at the level to be truly competitive at a global level … Canada has a strong international profile in this area with strong clinical investigators in the field."

Since its formation, CIHR has allocated $176.2 million towards Alzheimer's research, spending $22.7 million in FY09-10 alone. CIHR has also appointed Dr Rémi Quirion as executive director of the International Collaborative Research Strategy for Alzheimer's Disease project. The project was launched in 2009 to "develop a global research network and to shape a research funding program with a major focus on disease prevention and innovative therapeutic strategies".

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