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Province to fund MS-therapy trials

Move falls short of satisfying sufferers and their families

By: Larry Kusch

Posted: 10/16/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Gini Lauder Osinski leaves the Manitoba legislature after the announcement Friday. She applauded the added resources for the clinic. (MIKE.DEAL@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

Manitoba anted up $500,000 to fund clinical trials for a new multiple sclerosis treatment Friday, but the move failed to satisfy some MS sufferers and their families who feel the government isn't moving swiftly enough.

Health Minister Theresa Oswald also placed a condition on the funding, saying it would only be spent "if and when it is deemed safe and ethical to proceed" with pan-Canadian trials of the so-called liberation treatment for MS.

The treatment, available abroad but not in Canada, involves unblocking veins to get normal blood flow to the brain. Some Canadian MS sufferers have travelled as far away as Europe, India and Egypt for the procedure.

"I think they're waiting for someone else to do it instead of taking the initiative themselves," said Laurel Whittington, a Winnipegger who was diagnosed with MS in 2000. "Why not do it (the clinical trials) here? We have the scientists," she said.

Some of those who have received the procedure report it has dramatically eliminated the disease's often-debilitating symptoms.

Federal and provincial health ministers have agreed to co-operate on clinical trials, if and when they get the scientific go-ahead. They are awaiting the results -- expected in a matter of months -- of seven diagnostic studies that are expected to help their decision on whether to proceed.

The controversy over the liberation or chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) treatment overshadowed two other MS initiatives the province announced on Friday.

Manitoba is boosting funding for Health Science Centre's MS Clinic by more than $500,000, adding a neurologist and more nursing and occupational therapy resources -- a move that was widely applauded by MS patients. The clinic assists with MS diagnosis and acts as a one-stop shop for treatment and therapy. It has seen a 30 per cent increase in referrals in each of the last several years.

Oswald also announced the province will spend $1 million annually to add Tysabri, a new MS treatment drug, to the provincial pharmacare plan.

Gini Lauder Osinski, who was diagnosed with MS 20 years ago, welcomed the added resources for the clinic, saying the new money will likely reduce wait times.

However, unlike other MS patients and family members interviewed Friday, she was more skeptical about the stated benefits of the liberation treatment. She said while she's excited about its possibilities, "time will tell" whether its effects are permanent or temporary.

"I hope and pray that it isn't just excited utterances, and it really has made a difference to these people (who have received the treatment)," Lauder Osinski said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

THE BACKGROUND:

The so-called liberation treatment, available abroad but not in Canada, involves unblocking veins to get normal blood flow to the brain.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 16, 2010 A4

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