Editor's note: Please note the next three articles. The first says that Canada has no pharmaceutical research indsutry. The next two discuss recent breakthroughs by Canadian scientists in the areas of SARS and MS.

From the Sacramento Bee:
FDA: Drug research at risk
"Canada and Western European countries that regulate drug prices have lost their indigenous pharmaceutical industries," Gollaher said. "In the free market of the United States, where prices are certainly higher, patients are getting access to drugs in human trials faster and seeing the benefits of medical innovation much sooner than patients overseas."

From the Medical Posting:
Canadian discovery promises new MS treatments
Canadian scientists have identified a new target for the development of drugs to treat and possibly even reverse multiple sclerosis (MS).

"We have identified a key enzyme that triggers MS-like disease in an animal model," says Sam David, a neuroscientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal. "We also show blocking this enzyme has a remarkable effect in preventing disease and relapses."

From the Birmingham (AL) News:
Southern Research to test SARS serum
Canada's researchers developed the three vaccines in a high-speed effort after an outbreak of severe acute respiratory virus in Toronto killed 44 people last year. The vaccines use different methods to stimulate immune responses. One uses an inactivated virus, another uses a weakened virus and a third uses proteins.

"We're going to see which approach works best," Voss said.

Canadian scientists hope to begin human trials next year, pending the outcome of animal trials.