Invitational Roundtable of Natural Health Products Research Priority Setting Conference

Sheraton Hotel,
Winnipeg, Manitoba
March 1 and 2, 2003

Sponsored by Natural Health Products Directorate

Executive Summary

As part of its mandate to facilitate the research of natural health products, and in keeping with its objective to foster collaboration and partnership building, the Natural Health Products Directorate (NHPD) at Health Canada hosted a research funding priority setting conference in Winnipeg on March 1 and 2, 2003. The invited participants included academics and researchers from public research facilities across Canada, as well as representatives from the natural health products industry and from various government agencies.

NHPD has announced that in April 2003 it will launch the Natural Health Products Research Program (NHPRP), investing $1 million per year into natural health product research. The NHPRP will support projects directly as well as in partnership with Canada's primary national funding agencies such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The NHPRP will be open to all NHP researchers and potential funding requests.

The objective for the conference was to identify the next steps with regard to the natural health product (NHP) research agenda and to develop appropriate strategies. The conference participants were asked to identify specific funding opportunities for the NHPRP recognizing the role of NHPD as the product regulator. The Winnipeg conference represented the final consultation in the area of NHP research priorities. It follows other consultations that have been conducted across Canada since 1999.

Roundtable NHP Research Program Recommendations

Through group and break-out sessions, the participants made recommendations in regard to the structure of the NHPRP within five programs and/or areas:

1. Graduate Student Funding

It is proposed that funding awards of $10,000 per student (both at masters and Ph.D. levels) for 2 year periods be made available from the NHPRP. Twenty or more students could be funded per year. Funding would be awarded based on the excellence of the student, scientific merit of their proposal and their research environment. Decisions would be based on rankings made by CIHR and/or NS panels with specific expertise in NHP.

2. Seed Funding

It is proposed that awards up to $20,000 for one year be made available from the NHPRP as seed funding. The objective of the program would be to encourage new research in the NHP area as well as to bring together multi-disciplinary research teams to develop more significant applications for CIHR and/or NSREC. In the latter situation, if the project is successful, NHPD could consider partnering with CIHR, NSERC and other funding agencies to increase the level of project funding (see below under "Partnership Awards"). Initial funding from the NHPD allows more significant project proposals to be developed and also increases the credibility of the project to other funding agencies.

3. Bridge Funding

It is proposed that awards of $50,000 for one year be made available from the NHPRP as bridge funding, possibly by using existing CIHR infrastructure. CIHR would review NHP grant applications and provide a list yearly to NHPD of those proposals rated over 3.5 but not being successful. From this list, an additional scan could be conducted to identify those proposals which meet the priority areas of research for the NHPD. Funding consideration could then be given according to goals of the Directorate. This bridge funding would allow the researcher to continue the scientific pursuits necessary for a more significant grant application to the CIHR.

4. Partnership Awards

These awards would be similar to bridge funding but would require partnership with other granting agencies (such as CIHR, NSERC, private foundations, other government funds etc.).

5. University/Industry/NHPD Matching Grants

NHPRP funding would be structured to be matched equally by University and Industry contributions, as well as other potential partners.

Participants also discussed issues related to other funding agencies, in particular the CIHR, as well as the peer review process for NHP research. It is recommended that the NHPD continue to work with CIHR to integrate NHP specific expertise within various Institutes as well as with CIHR funding partners. NHPD should initiate the establishment of a peer review committee of recognized NHP scientific experts to provide NHP support to CIHR review committees and to assist in establishing NHP credibility.

Roundtable NHP Research Activity Recommendations

The following four specific activities are suggested as possible areas requiring immediate attention for funding applications and/or leveraging opportunities within the NHPRP.

1. National Conference

Seed funding should be approved to organize a national conference to bring the research community together with industry, government and other agencies interested in NHPs. At the Winnipeg meeting, a 1 ½ day meeting was suggested which would focus on themes related to biomedical models of action: infection and immunity, male and female health, products and processing, health policy/services and ethics, child health, ethnopharmacology, cardiovascular/respiratory, cancer and neurobiology and mental health. A tentative time frame for the conference was indicated to be February 2004.

2. NHP Database

In order for the data gleaned by the initial environmental scan of NHP researchers to remain current and comprehensive, ongoing review and monitoring is necessary. The NHPD should consider providing funding to expand the database to include more specific information on NHP research in Canada, in particular to examine existing databases and to expand the search, with the possible use of different keywords, of CIHR applied and funded grants. This exercise is seen as critical so that a complete list of "NHP" grants submitted to the CIHR may be determined in order to identify granting pressure from the NHP community. In addition, funding consideration should be given to the maintenance of an updated database with accessibility to the NHP research community.

3. National Centre of Excellence (NCE)

At the Winnipeg meeting, a core committee was established to develop an NCE application specific to NHPs. It should be noted that an NCE application has been developed through the University of Guelph with one of four areas of focus being functional foods and nutraceuticals and including a funding request for NHP and CAM research.

The NHPRP will be open to all NCE applications related to NHPs. It is recommended that the NHPRP provide seed funding for the development of NCE applications and to provide overall guidance in the process. An NCE specific to NHPs has been noted as a high priority in previous research priority consultations undertaken by the NHPD. Such an NCE would consist of nodes established by geography and expertise. The NCE could maintain the NHP database, enhance research capacity via training and education, and contribute to knowledge transfer.

4. Canadian Society for Natural Health Products Research

At the Winnipeg conference it was noted that, with the establishment of the NHPRP and with planning towards a national conference underway, it is timely to form an organization with its specific focus being NHP research. Participants agreed to the formation of the Canadian Society for Natural Health Products Research (CSNHPR) and an Interim Steering Committee was appointed to establish the Society. It is recommended that the NHPD explore ways in which it could fund various activities of the Society including the costs of establishment.

Conclusions

The conference was successful in that it resulted in the attainment of its goals and in focused recommendations as to moving the research agenda for NHPs in Canada forward. Although it may not be possible for the NHPD to implement all of the recommendations that were made during the conference, it was acknowledged that suggestions generated would be seriously considered.