TORONTO - Ontario will not follow Saskatchewan's lead and fund clinical trials of a new operation that offers hope to people with multiple sclerosis, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday.
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall announced Tuesday his government was ready to help pay for clinical trials of the so-called liberation treatment, despite a lack of scientific evidence proving it works.
The treatment is based on an unproven theory by Italian doctor Paolo Zamboni that blocked veins in the neck or spinal cord are to blame for MS. It involves using an angioplasty-type treatment to clear the veins carrying blood from the brain.
Zamboni says 73 per cent of patients who have undergone the procedure have noticed significant decreases in MS symptoms.
Some patients have posted testimonials online, including YouTube videos, saying the procedure did indeed reduce their symptoms.
There must be more than anecdotal evidence before Ontario can fund clinical trials, said McGuinty.
"It’s just early days yet, and my understanding is the MS Society of Canada has not endorsed this treatment yet," said McGuinty.
"It’s very interesting. I think it holds some promise and our responsibility now is to work together and make sure that it in fact is something that we should be supporting."
Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger said Wednesday he won't commit to funding trials of the liberation treatment.
Selinger said the Manitoba government is working with other provinces to continue to find the best ways to treat MS, but he wouldn't commit to funding clinical trials.
The MS Society of Canada is funding studies into the liberation therapy, and has asked the federal government to contribute $10 million for research into chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency.
Clinics in Poland, Bulgaria and India are charging up to $30,000 to open blockages for MS patients who have flocked from Canada and other countries in the last few months.
It's no wonder Canadians with MS are demanding access to the procedure, said McGuinty.
"I know when families hear about something like this, a potential treatment with good indications of success, they're going to be very eager to embrace this," he said.
"What we have to do in government is make sure that we take a good solid look at these things."
McGuinty had been speaking about how the provinces and territories could work together to lower health-care costs by not having one jurisdiction agree to fund a procedure unless there is scientific evidence to support public funding.
However, McGuinty did not want to criticize Saskatchewan for doing that very thing just 24 hours earlier when Wall agreed to fund clinical trials on the liberation therapy.
"I think it’s good news that Saskatchewan has decided they want to take a lead on this," he said.
"It may be the folks at McMaster should be sharing their research with them (and) maybe there’s other work ongoing in other labs or universities across the country where we can bring our very best to bear on this."
McMaster University in Hamilton has been doing research into MS that could be helpful to the clinical trials in Saskatchewan on liberation therapy, said McGuinty.
Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews said the province has made it very clear it intends to rely on scientific evidence to determine what procedures it will pay for.
"Absolutely there is anecdotal evidence, but overwhelmingly the scientific evidence simply is not there to support this," said Matthews.
"We actually signalled very strongly that we are going to be increasingly looking to evidence to determine what we fund in our health care system, so I just think we have to rely on evidence when it comes to these kinds of decisions."
Both McGuinty and Matthews said MS had touched their families, and they understood how much hope this new procedure seems to offer.
"We are watching very, very closely all of the advances that are being made in terms of research," said Matthews.
"I think we owe it to the people with MS to look very closely at this."
The Canadian Institutes for Health Research will be bringing together all the experts on MS for a meeting next month.
"I'm delighted that CIHR is convening a meeting in August of all of the people who have something to add to this conversation," said Matthews.
About 50,000 Canadians suffer from multiple sclerosis, a neurological disorder that affects twice as many women as men. No one yet knows what causes MS.
