Ontario first to announce funding for new Cancer Stem Cell Consortium

Other partners to follow suit

The Province of Ontario is first up to the plate with funding to support bilateral research under the Canada-California Strategic Innovation Partnership (CCSIP). Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty announced late last month that the province would invest $30 million in a new Cancer Stem Cell Consortium (CSCC) between the two jurisdictions, which is aiming to secure $500 million over five years from Canadian and Californian sources.

The announcement was made during the Toronto leg of California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent Canadian visit and marks the second time in two months that Ontario has moved quickly to support an international health research consortium. Earlier this year, it announced funding for the second phase of the Structural Genomics Consortium ($15 million) well before its national and international partners. (R$, April 10/07).

The CSCC is the second concrete initiative launched under the CCSIP umbrella, following the completion of a broadband networking link between CANARIE CAnet 4 and the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) (R$, October 18/06).

Of Canada's planned $250-million contribution to the CSCC, half is slated to come from federal sources including the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Genome Canada and the Networks of Centres of Excellence Stem Cell Network. The other half will come from provincial governments and other agencies. For example, the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research has expressed interest.

"There are four projects so far planned under the CCSIP and the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium is the largest one. It will be another one to one-and-a-half years before the deal is closed," says Dr Martin Godbout, Genome Canada's president and CEO. "Genome Canada will be asking for $30 million in the next federal budget as part of a larger package. Whether it will be within CCSIP or individually, I don't know."

Ontario's contribution to the CSCC is being funded through the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), which last year selected Dr Tom Hudson as its president and chief scientific officer (R$, August 21/06). OICR recently unveiled a strategic plan for its $347-million, five-year budget. The Consortium's funding will be taken from OICR's largest budget envelope for innovation projects, platforms and translational research.

DFAIt driving ccsip at federal level

CCSIP is being marshalled at the federal level by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). But there is growing pressure to move from the planning stages and Ontario was astute in identifying an early opportunity to fund collaborative stem cell research and matching it with the OICR.

"The CCSIP has identified a small number of priority areas and the OICR is always trying to builds partnerships … We've identified a number of research questions, technology platforms and infrastructure required," says Hudson. " The research collaboration will work out the details in 2007 and begin large-scale collaboration in 2008. The Consortium will ultimately have hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and could include other nations."

Guests that assembled at the MaRS Discovery District for the announcement included pioneer Canadian stem cell researchers Drs James Till and Ernest McCulloch, who are credited with discovering the existence of stem cells in the 1960s. Both are now affiliated with the Ontario Cancer Institute.

MaRS recently entered into an agreement with the Stem cell Network to manage Aggregate Therapeutics Inc, a for-profit company created to accelerate the commercialization of Canadian stem cell discoveries. And its CEO, Dr Ilse Treurnicht, has joined the CCSIP steering committee.

"Right now about 70% of global cancer stem cell research is done in California and Canada. There's a critical mass of scientists in both jurisdictions and lots of leading lights. The framework and the pioneers are here."

California to draw on $3-billion in funding

On the California side, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is the major potential source of funding. Last month, the final legal roadblock to Proposition 71 (the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act ) was tossed out by the California Supreme Court . That frees up a $3-billion bond issue dedicated to stem cell research through CIRM — the state agency created to manage the bond-backed funds. CIRM is now the world's largest source of funding for human embryonic stem cell research. Last week, CIRM approved more than $50 million in grants for construction of shared research laboratories at 17 academic and non-profit institutions.

"The intent is to get something in the clinic. The first part will be basic research and then it will engage with industry I areas like imaging and tissue banks. There's a lot of companies interested in these fields," says Marc LePage, consul general for San Francisco/Silicon Valley and formerly executive VP with Genome Canada. "CIRM has a disease-focused strategy to get from the research to therapy quickly. In Canada, Ontario is the furthest along with stem cell initiatives within the CCSIP. Other provinces may also join the consortium."

The CSCC was created early this year following the latest cancer stem cell workshop held January 20 at Stanford Univ. The main drivers behind the initiative are: Dr Calvin Stiller, chairman of Genome Canada, Dr Robert Klein, chairman of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Dr John Hassell, professor with McMaster Univ's department of biology, and director of its Centre for Functional Genomics.

Hassell has been leading efforts to convince the federal government that CSCC is a worthy mechanism for further investment with considerable social and long-term economic potential.

CSCC will drive competition

"This is goal-oriented research and a consortium is the best way to go," says Hudson. "There will be both collaboration and competition within the consortium and that's good as people try to outperform one another."

Cancer research is only one area within CCSIP's stem cell initiative, meaning the amount of funds invested could rise even further if other areas of research are successfully identified. Another initiative that could join the CCSIP fold is the International Regulome Consortium (IRC), lead by Dr Michael Rudnicki, director of the new Sprott Centre for Stem Cell Research and the scientific director of the Stem Cell Network.

Although the IRC was unsuccessful in the last CFI's International Joint Venture Fund competition, plans are proceeding for the Canadian-led venture. Godbout says funding from its US, UK, Dutch and California partners are essentially in place, with Canada the last to invest.

"Its budget will between $65 million and $70 million and Genome Canada will be asking for $18 million to $20 million in the next federal Budget," he says.

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