Clinical research in Canada: the dawn of a new era?

In response to the growing gap between discovery and the optimal application of medical advancements to health care delivery, countries the world over have developed large and well funded programs to reduce these gaps. Although these programs vary in nature, they have generally largely focused more on reducing the gap in bench to bedside research. Canada's strong biomedical and patient oriented research (POR) community has a strong base from which to build, but requires support in order to fill the missing elements needed to take full advantage of the important unmet needs in health related research. In Canada, a coalition of funders of medical research, led by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) is developing a large and comprehensive program to build a Canadian infrastructure that will provide these missing elements, and further strengthen POR in Canada. This coalition proposes to put particular emphasis on bedside to community POR, including phase 3 clinical trials, to take advantage of and improve the sustainability of Canada's unique universal health care system. The major initiatives in POR developed by so many countries, including Canada clearly heralds a new era in clinical research, one that the Canadian research community needs to take full advantage of.