Saskatchewan has announced it is spending $2 million to help fund a trial already underway in the U.S. looking at the hotly-debated treatment for multiple sclerosis known as liberation therapy.
Health Minister Don McMorris announced Friday that the province is working with a research team led by Dr. Gary Siskin, a vascular and interventional radiologist at Albany Medical Center in Albany, N.Y.
McMorris says up to 90 Saskatchewan MS patients would be involved in the trial. Once the partnership is finalized, Saskatchewan MS patients will get information on how they can apply to participate.
"Patients need answers as soon as possible about the efficacy of the Liberation Therapy as a treatment for MS," McMorris said in a press release.
"This clinical study will enable Saskatchewan patients to be involved quite quickly in a controlled, reputable research process."
The liberation treatment involves widening veins in the neck to improve blood flow from the brain. Some MS patients have reported the treatment helps relieve some of their symptoms, but some studies have cast doubt on the procedure.
Last October, Saskatchewan became the first province to announce it would spend money to evaluate angioplasty as a possible treatment for the symptoms of MS.
The Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation put up $5 million and issued a call for proposals. But, the release, says that process "did not result in a suitable research proposal."
Dr. Siskin was selected, according to a source with the government, because he already has a large research trial underway and because the province didn't want Saskatchewan MS patients to wait several years for a result from possible federal studies.
The government says it still has $ 3 million allotted for that additional research when it is announced.
The Canadian Institute for Health Research has also said it will fund studies into the controversial treatment.
With reports from CTV medical specialist Avis Favaro
