The federal government announced Friday it is ready to accept proposals from researchers who want to study an experimental treatment for people with multiple sclerosis.
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced the call for proposals to study the so-called liberation therapy during the federal, provincial and territorial health ministers meeting in Halifax.
"Our government is committed to helping Canadians with multiple sclerosis," she said in a news release.
"This next step will help identify a proposed clinical trial which can then undergo ethical review. At every step of this process, patient safety must be first and foremost."
The request for research proposals will be available on the Canadian Institutes of Health Research's website on Nov. 30.
The applications will be reviewed by an international committee that will be established over the coming weeks, and CIHR will announce the successful research team in March, 2012.
The federal government announced in June that it had accepted a recommendation of an expert scientific panel to undertake a small-scale Phase I/II clinical trial of the "liberation treatment."
The main objective of the study will be to determine the safety of venous angioplasty and how it affects MS patients.
That decision came after the panel analyzed all the research done on CCSVI (chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency) so far and found it suggested "a trend to an association between the greater prevalence of CCSVI in patients with MS than in healthy controls."
The liberation treatment was developed by Italian physician Dr. Paolo Zamboni and is based on his theory that narrowed neck veins are behind MS symptoms. The narrowed neck veins, or CCSVI, reduces blood flow and allows iron deposits to build up in the brain, Zamboni believes.
The treatment he developed uses balloon angioplasty to unblock the veins in the hope of alleviating symptoms.
While Zamboni has reported success with the treatment, recent clinical trials have concluded that CCSVI is not a primary cause of MS.
CIHR President Dr. Alain Beaudet said Friday it's important for researchers to examine CCSVI further.
"It is imperative given the uncertainties related to CCSVI and its potential relationship to MS that CIHR support ethical research based on international standards of excellence to help us better understand what impact venous angioplasty procedures have on the clinical outcomes and quality of life of MS patients," he said in Friday's news release.
"The research evidence to-date is so mixed that the only way to get to the bottom of this is to conduct a well-designed clinical trial with appropriate stringent patient safety considerations factored in."
MS Society President Yves Savoie said his group hopes the research brings the MS community closer to definitive answers on CCSVI and MS.
"People with MS deserve clarity about the hope that CCSVI offers as a potential treatment for MS. It is only through rigorous research that we can get these answers," he said.
