AstraZeneca Gives BC Healthcare System A Boost With $4.6 Million in Investments
February 9, 2006
Focus on Illness Prevention, Health Economics Research
"These investments will improve the quality of care for patients in British Columbia," said Mike Cloutier, President and CEO of AstraZeneca Canada. "Better patient outcomes are achieved not just through new therapies, but also through education and the sharing of knowledge gained from multi-sectoral research partnerships."
AstraZeneca's new BC-based investments include: a $1.6 million donation to the St. Paul's Hospital Foundation to establish Canada's first Metabolic Syndrome Clinic; a $1 million grant to the BC Cancer Agency for translational and health economics research; and, a $2 million investment in Occupational and Environmental Lung Diseases Research at the University of British Columbia.
"These investments are an important step to ensure growth and improvement in the research sector," said the Honourable Murray Coell, Minister of Advanced Education and Minister Responsible for Research and Technology. "The projects at St. Paul's, UBC and BC Cancer will serve to increase British Columbia's global reputation for research, while contributing to the economy and the health of the province's residents."
About the Investments
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- The first of its kind in Canada, the Metabolic Syndrome Clinic will be under the auspices of the Provincial Heart Centre at St. Paul's Hospital, part of Providence Health Care. Approximately one in five British Columbian adults have metabolic syndrome, putting them at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The new clinic will focus on helping patients understand and reduce their risk of developing these serious health problems. Complications stemming from these diseases - including heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure - impact hospital and health care resources as well as patients' quality of life. Programs to prevent chronic health problems have the potential to provide a major economic benefit to the health care system.
- The BC Cancer Agency Grant will help facilitate health economics research and delivery of oncology treatment to patients in British Columbia through research that will allow for the tracking of cases and analysis of blood and tumour samples to find factors relating to patient outcomes - and can help find the best practices for individual patients. Health economics research will collect data that can be used to demonstrate the delivery of oncology research treatment and evaluate the effectiveness of cancer care as well as helping develop health economic models. These projects will have a direct impact on patients through improved access to patient education; improved research resources and support for more effective health economic outcomes modelling.
- The contribution to the Occupational and Environmental Lung Diseases Research section at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute will help facilitate research in occupational and environmental lung health. The research will be conducted in partnership with UBC's Department of Medicine, Respiratory Division and its affiliated research centers' at Vancouver General and St. Paul's Hospitals. The research program will also involve collaboration with the School of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene at UBC. This exciting new funding opportunity will ensure a continuation of important research conducted at UBC which has made major contributions to our understanding of occupational lung disease and in particular occupational asthma. This program of research will benefit BC residents and beyond by better characterizing the epidemiology of occupational and environmental lung diseases with the subsequent development of interventions to minimize their impact on the health of the community.
These latest investments are part of a range of BC-based investments made by AstraZeneca over the past few years.
AstraZeneca is a leading global pharmaceutical company with an extensive product portfolio spanning six major therapeutic areas: gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, infection, neuroscience, oncology, and respiratory. AstraZeneca's Canadian headquarters and packaging facilities are located in Mississauga, Ontario, and its state-of-the-art drug discovery centre is based in Montreal, Quebec. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.astrazeneca.ca.
For further information: please contact: Jordan Berman, AstraZeneca Canada Inc., (905) 615-6871, Jordan.Berman@astrazeneca.com
