Group calls on feds to fund Naylor Report recommendations

A new advocacy group of private and public health innovation organizations is warning that “Canada is on the cusp of forsaking an entire generation of talent” and urging the federal government to implement the multi-year investments called for in a report by the Advisory Panel on Federal Support for Fundamental Science, commonly known as the Naylor Report after the panel’s chair, Dr David Naylor. R7 Research Partners released an open letter to prime minister Justin Trudeau on June 21 to “immediately address our acute research funding deficit” by accepting the report’s call for $1.3 billion over four years in new spending on fundamental science. The Naylor report was released in April but the government has yet to respond to the review’s recommendations although there are reports that it could do so as early as this week. The report calls for a $485-million boost to the budgets of the granting councils, stable funding of $300 million annually for the Canada Foundation for Innovation, enhanced support for doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows and research chairs, and support for small capital grants and increase funding for the indirect costs of research. R7 is comprised of HealthCareCAN, the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada, Research Canada, the Health Charities Coalition of Canada, BIOTECanada, Canada’s Medical Technology Companies, and Innovative Medicines Canada.