Wednesday, July 6, 2011 6:41 PM
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Ken Torbert
BARRIE - The government has pulled an about-face on clinical trials for the controversial new treatment for multiple sclerosis. In a reversal of its position taken last fall, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) approved funding June 29 for clinical trials of chronic cerebro-spinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) treatment. While the decision is long awaited for many patients who believe in the treatment, many of them aren’t waiting for the proof. Barrie’s Steve Garvie had the treatment in January 2010 – 18 months ago. More recently, and through Garvie’s newly created CCSVI Foundation, Mike Tkachuk travelled to Rhode Island for the surgery. They are among an estimated 12,000-plus patients who have had the CCSVI treatment already. And five patients were treated in a brief trial in Barrie before that was shut down. While Ottawa is just now officially funding clinical trials in a move that seems a bit behind the times, CCSVI hasn’t been without its detractors. Many neurologists, the traditional gatekeepers of MS, question vein blockages as a cause for MS, dismiss the treatment as quack medicine and chalk up positive results to a placebo effect. Nevertheless, Tkachuk knows there may be some skeptics out there and he’s firm in his belief that if his recovery is a mind-over-matter placebo solution, it doesn’t change a thing. “People can see my recovery, they can’t deny it,” he told The Advance. “ The Monday after my surgery I went back to work and the guys couldn’t believe how good it was.” Last Wednesday, Canada's Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said there is now enough preliminary scientific evidence to move ahead with trials. A request for proposals is expected by the end of the year, with clinical trials set up by next year. It’s a positive move by Ottawa and is being applauded across the MS community. It’s time the government takes responsibility and stops forcing patients across the border, where the treatment can cost almost three times as much. Patients who’ve had the treatment note improvements. Placebo or no, if it makes life better for MS sufferers, these belated trials are a step in the right direction. http://www.simcoe.com/opinion/editorial/article/1038309--trials-belated-but-right-step
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