The January 6, 2009 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) included two articles on the clinical trial industry of Canada. Clinical Trials: the muddled Canadian Lanscape, discusses a conference held last October about the current situation of clinical trials in Canada. One topic that emerged was the increasing need for Clinical Research Coordinators and Clinical Research Associates, as it was increasingly difficult to find practicing physicians to fill some of the roles needed. “We need to be more organized about training for subinvestigators,” said Dr. Mary Bell, head of the rheumatology division at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centres in Toronto.
Spending on clinical trials by pharmaceutical firms in Canada reached $600 million in 2007. The vast majority (88.7%) of the companies’ research and development spending was in Ontario and Quebec, according to the Patented Medicines Prices Review Board’s 2007 annual report.
The second article in the CMAJ is Legumes, lemons and streptomycin: A short history of the clinical trial, by Roger Collier, which takes us back to ancient clinical trials (of a sorts), but mostly focuses on advances in this area during the 18th and 19th centuries.
