Health care privatization and crackpot science

It appears that Brad Wall wants his health care legacy to consist of the "privatization by stealth" and funding crackpot science in hopes of making a name for himself.  - NYC


Saskatchewan still plans to fund trials for controversial multiple sclerosis treatment

By Tim Switzer, Leader-Post

Saskatchewan Health Minister Don McMorris said the provincial government still plans to fund clinical trials for a controversial Multiple Sclerosis treatment despite the idea getting a thumbs down from the Canadian Institute of Health Research.

During a joint news conference with the MS Society of Canada in Ottawa on Tuesday, CIHR president Alain Beaudet said the organization will not recommend to the federal government that Canadawide clinical trials for the MS liberation treatment take place because of a lack of evidence to support its effectiveness.

"Given lack of scientific basis, it is not scientifically advisable or ethically acceptable to conduct clinical trials at this time," said Beaudet. He said the decision to hold off on trials until more evidence is found was unanimous among everyone who took part in a meeting between the CIHR and MS Society, including internationally recognized researchers and scientists of MS.

Last month, the Saskatchewan government announced it wants to fund clinical trials in this province and Tuesday's news did not change that plan.

"They (the CIHR and MS Society) have to make their decisions as they have," said McMorris. "It's interesting when they say there isn't enough evidence to move forward with it. That's the very reason we want to continue to look at it. We have had so many calls from people who either suffer from MS or have family members that suffer from MS that are looking at this as possible hope. We really want to be part of the process to say, 'Yes, this is effective' or 'No, there isn't' and look for other options into the future."

Saskatchewan has the highest rate of MS in Canada.

The controversial procedure was proposed by Italian vascular surgeon Paolo Zamboni last year and is commonly referred to as the "liberation treatment." It involves inflating the veins in a patient's neck with a balloon angioplasty to help blood flow from the brain to the heart.

Canadians, who cannot get the procedure in Canada, are travelling to countries such as Bulgaria, Poland and India and are returning with anecdotal reports of immediate results, such as restored warmth to their feet and hands, improved vision and decreased fatigue.

However, the scientists and researchers at Tuesday's news conference said the results of Zamboni's research are questionable.

Paolo Zamboni

Dr. Barry Rubin, vascular scientist at the Toronto General Hospital, said the lack of control group in Zamboni's trials makes it difficult to validate the results.

Rubin explained that during the trials in Italy, Zamboni should have given a control group of MS patients what is known as a "sham procedure" — meaning a fake treatment — so researchers can compare these patients with the ones who were given the real thing.

"There is a high incidence of placebo effect in patients that are treated for MS," Rubin said.

Moreover, he said that there is no group in the world that has validated the protocol Zamboni used in his trials.

tswitzer@leaderpost.com

— with files from Postmedia News