Os laboratórios de pesquisa abandonados durante a COVID-19

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Os laboratórios de pesquisa abandonados durante a COVID-19
O que a pandemia global significa para o financiamento da pesquisa em saúde no Canadá?
Jasleen Grewal, Editor de Comunicação, Educação e Divulgações
A pandemia colocou demandas únicas nos esforços de pesquisa em universidades e instituições de saúde em todo
o mundo. No Canadá, os esforços aumentaram para apoiar testes rápidos para infecções por COVID-19 e criar uma
vacina. O governo Trudeau agiu rapidamente para fornecer apoio financeiro muito necessário para esses
empreendimentos, e um número significativo de dólares dos contribuintes está sendo direcionado para a pesquisa
da COVID-19. Mas como o governo financia a pesquisa de saúde no Canadá? E como a COVID-19 afetará o
cenário da pesquisa em nosso país?
Como é financiada a pesquisa científica?
Globalmente, a maioria das pesquisas científicas é financiada por iniciativas federais, organizações sem fins
lucrativos e empresas que realizam pesquisa e desenvolvimento. No Canadá, o financiamento federal para pesquisa
científica é fornecido de duas maneiras principais – através das tri-agens do governo e por meio de organizações de
terceiros.
As tri-agências do governo canadense apoiam as prioridades federais de pesquisa para as ciências sociais
(SSHRC), ciências naturais e engenharia (NSERC) e saúde (CIHR). Essas agências solicitam aplicações de
cientistas em diferentes áreas de pesquisa e selecionam quais aplicativos financiar com base em revisões de pares
e diretrizes internas. O governo federal também fornece financiamento através de entidades terceirizadas do setor
privado. Os exemplos mais conhecidos incluem a Fundação Canadá para a Inovação (CFI) e o Genoma Canadá,
ambas organizações sem fins lucrativos que investem em empreendimentos de pesquisa em instituições e hospitais
educacionais canadenses.
O financiamento da pesquisa científica é importante. A pesquisa científica aplicada, voltada para a solução de
questões práticas, como doenças e surtos mortais, pode estimular a economia através de avanços tecnológicos,
criação de empregos e descobertas que salvam vidas. A pesquisa básica, que investiga os princípios teóricos por
trás das observações, apoia os objetivos da ciência aplicada – só podemos resolver um problema do mundo real se
entendermos suas complexidades. No entanto, o financiamento tem sido historicamente tendencioso para a
pesquisa aplicada devido ao seu impacto prático imediato.
Quais programas de financiamento apoiam a pesquisa da COVID-19 no
Canadá?
https://blog.scienceborealis.ca/tag/jasleen-grewal/
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A oportunidade de financiamento da CIHR COVID-19 Rapid Research se concentrou em fornecer apoio monetário às atividades de pesquis
Organização Mundial da Saúde para gerenciar a atual pandemia. Captura de tela do site CIHR, 14 de agosto de 2020.
O governo canadense tem mais de US $ 1 bilhão em seu Fundo de Resposta à COVID-19. Estima-se que mais de
30% disso será investido em pesquisa sobre COVID-19. Uma série de subsídios foram lançadas através do CIHR,
com foco no desenvolvimento acelerado, testes e implementação de abordagens para controlar a propagação da
COVID-19. Ferramentas de ligação para incentivar a colaboração na pesquisa da COVID-19 também foram
desenvolvidas.
Por meio do fluxo COVID-19 do Fundo Estratégico de Inovação, empresas canadenses como Abcellera e Medicago
foram apoiadas para desenvolver opções de tratamento para a COVID-19, e outras como a BlueDot foram
aproveitadas para modelar e monitorar a propagação da doença. O financiamento distribuído via CFI e o Genoma
Canadá adicionou milhões em fundos de pesquisa à Organização de Vacinas e Doenças Infecciosas da
Universidade de Saskatchewan e iniciou programas coordenados de resposta em todos os Centros de Genomas e
laboratórios de saúde pública do país.
How has COVID-19 changed scientific research in Canada?
A 2017 review found that scientific funding was becoming more restrictive and commercial, negatively impacting
Canadian contributions to basic research discoveries worldwide. This imbalance in funding priorities is only expected
to deepen as COVID-19 further pushes funding to emphasize applicability without balancing this with the need to fund
basic research. Even among the funded COVID-19 projects, support for basic research is scarce. Only one among
the recent 49 COVID-19 research projects funded by CIHR focuses on basic research.
Research funding in Canada (shown in millions of dollars, broken down by agency) has remained largely stagnant in the last 10 years. As fun
COVID-19 research efforts, other areas of health research may be negatively impacted. CC-BY from Higher Education Strategy Associates.
What about all the non-COVID healthcare research that was previously federally funded? Among the leading causes
of death in Canada in 2019, cancer, heart disease, and cerebrovascular diseases are the top 3. But currently, many
cancer research labs across Canada are closed and CIHR’s Institute of Cancer Research delayed its upcoming
funding competition as it diverts efforts to delivering funding to COVID-19 research. CIHR’s Circulatory and
Respiratory Health Institute has directed funds to understanding clotting patterns in COVID-19 infected patients, but it
is unclear how these changes will impact non-COVID research in this area.
CIHR’s spring competition for funding health research projects also faced several administrative hurdles, eliciting
widespread protest from the scientific community, and was briefly closed before being re-opened to ensure continued
support to essential areas of health research besides COVID-19. 31 million of the 275 million dollars allocated for
CIHR project grants in 2020 will be redirected towards COVID-19 research, significantly reducing funding available
for other health conditions.
Non-federally funded charities that fund health research have also been impacted. The Canadian Cancer Society laid
off 350 staff in June 2020, and is expecting an $80-100 million drop in revenue this year alone, as a result of fewer
donations and reduced fundraising. The Heart and Stroke Foundation, which fundraises millions of dollars for
research each year, doubts their ability to fund research awards in 2021.
Where does that leave us?
Science funding is fraught with many challenges. CIHR’s National Health Expenditure Trends from 2019 indicated
that while health spending has gone up from ~9% of GDP in 2000 to ~12% in 2019, only 7% of total public health
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expenditure is actually spent on health research. Since 2000, healthcare research funding awarded through CIHR
has become increasingly imbalanced, with only 15% of researchers who applied receiving grants in 2018, compared
to nearly 42% in 2000.
We are in unprecedented times, facing a global pandemic that may stretch on for years yet. Science and research
are our main weapons for emerging from this fight victorious, but changing priorities for financial support have
magnified funding inequities in other areas of healthcare and uncovered room for reforms in our funding strategies for
healthcare research. The path forward may not be clear immediately, but as we rebuild from this crisis, we have the
opportunity to listen to our scientists and reimagine a better support structure for them in Canada.
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