1. A clinical and economic overview report, and
2. Final recommendations from the Therapeutic Review Panel on Biological Response Modifier Agents for Adults with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

A therapeutic review is a review of the most recent evidence available in the public domain regarding a single drug, a drug class, or a drug category. The final outputs include recommendations, advice, or a report and conclusions.

The final reports on CADTH’s second therapeutic review topic - Third-Line Therapy for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Inadequately Controlled with Metformin and a Sulfonylurea – will be available in the coming weeks.

CADTH is currently working to develop recommendations for the optimal use of combination or high-dose therapy with atypical antipsychotic agents for adolescents and adults with schizophrenia.

A list of randomized controlled trials that will be included in the systematic review for this project is now available online. The list does not include conference abstracts that are not indexed in databases such as MEDLINE, PubMed, or EMBASE. A separate search will be conducted for abstracts and the selection process is ongoing.

• Atypical Antipsychotics for Schizophrenia: Combination Therapy and High Doses — List of Included Studies

CADTH invites all interested parties to suggest additional studies evaluating the efficacy and safety of combination or high-dose therapy with atypical antipsychotic agents that meet CADTH’s inclusion criteria and have not been included in our list. Please forward your suggestions to cadthfeedback@cadth.ca by Monday, August 9, 2010.

For additional background information on the project, please see the Research Questions and Study Selection Criteria and project description.

The Drug Policy Advisory Committee (DPAC) is a new committee, including jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional members, that is being established to provide strategic advice on drug policy issues and drug topics to the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH). The Committee will provide guidance that considers the outputs and impact of CADTH work in meeting the needs of federal, provincial and territorial governments and those working in the Canadian health care system.

Call for Nominations

The Nominating Committee for the DPAC is seeking nominations for individuals employed in hospitals or regional health authorities (or similar bodies) across Canada to fill two vacancies on the committee.

Who Can Nominate Members?

Non-jurisdictional candidates for DPAC membership may be nominated by anyone in Canada. To help identify potential candidates, a list of characteristics is provided in Appendix A at the back of the DPAC Terms of Reference.

Nomination Documents and Instructions

The following documents provide more information about DPAC and its role at CADTH, and will guide the nomination process:

• DPAC Terms of Reference
• Overview of DPAC and summary of nomination process

All nominees will be informed of the decisions regarding the appointment of DPAC members in October 2010.

Required Nomination Documents

Each nominee must provide:

1. Letter of Acceptance from Nominee – A signed letter agreeing to allow his/her name to stand for nomination (may be scanned and sent electronically).
2. A curriculum vitae (sent electronically).
3. A short summary of qualifications and a letter supporting the nomination (sent electronically).
   

Nomination documents must be submitted to CADTH, either directly by the nominator or by the nominee, no later than Wednesday, August 11, 2010, to the attention of Elaine MacPhail:

by email:      elainem@cadth.ca
by fax:         (613) 226-5392
by mail:       Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health
                   865 Carling Avenue, Suite 600, Ottawa, ON  K1S 5S8

For More Information:

Please forward your questions by e-mail to Elaine MacPhail at elainem@cadth.ca, or contact her at (613) 226-2449, ext. 1230.

This event was held on:
Date: Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Time: 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Presenter:
Shawn Bugden, B.Sc. (Honours), B.Sc. (Pharm), M.Sc.,
Drug Evaluation Pharmacist
Prescription Information Services of Manitoba (PrISM)

Moderator: 
Dr. Brian O’Rourke
President and Chief Executive Officer
Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health

What is evidence-based medicine?
How does it work?
What are its strengths and limitations?

The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) partnered with the Ottawa Carleton Pharmacists Association to present a free educational program for pharmacists and other health care professionals that examined evidence-based medicine and how to apply critical appraisal skills in daily practice. Real-world case examples on insulin analogues and self-monitoring of blood glucose were discussed.

For more information about how this presentation can be adapted for the needs of your audience, please contact us at info@cadth.ca.

Visit our pages on self-monitoring of blood glucose and insulin analogues to learn more about the products and services available on these topics.

With a newly created governing structure in place, Canada’s provincial, territorial and federal Deputy Ministers of Health now invite applications and nominations for the roles of Chair and six non-jurisdictional Directors to serve on CADTH’s new Board which will also include six jurisdictional members.

The Chair is the key spokesperson for the Board and, as the presiding officer at Board meetings, ensures the Board meets its obligations and fulfills it governance responsibilities.  The Chair is a skilled communicator and relationship builder with the leadership skills and stature to enhance CADTH’s profile.  Non-jurisdictional Board Directors are well-versed  in all aspects of good governance and management and reflect a complementary mixture of knowledge, skills and experience in health care delivery, finance and accounting, law, academia, education and research, IT/IS, human resources, knowledge exchange, public affairs and communications, performance measurement and risk management. 

As a well suited candidate for a CADTH Board Director or the Chair role, you are respected for your integrity, accountability, informed judgment, strategic foresight and strong facilitation and communications skills. You demonstrate objectivity, diligence and a commitment to excellence as well as the political acuity, diplomacy and a record of achievement to be a credible, engaged, and devoted CADTH Board member. 

For further information contact Michael Naufal of Odgers Berndtson, Executive Search at 613-742-3198. To submit an application or nominate a candidate, email Michael at michael.naufal@odgersberndtson.ca, or submit your resume and related information online at www.odgersberndtson.ca/en/careers/9288.

Canadian Journal of Diabetes

The first article, entitled “Utilization and Expenditure on Blood Glucose Test Strips in Canada” and published as an original research article in the March 2010 issue of the Canadian Journal of Diabetes, reveals that the current utilization and expenditure in Canada on blood glucose test strips is considerable ― with almost half of total expenditures being for patients not using insulin ― despite a lack of convincing evidence that routine SMBG is beneficial for these patients.

Chris Cameron and co-authors suggest that there may be more cost-effective strategies for improving the health of this particular population.

The same issue of the Canadian Journal of Diabetes includes an “Editor’s Note” and two invited commentaries to debate the use of SMBG in patients with type 2 diabetes not using insulin:

• “The Cost of Diabetes: A Game Changer” (Editor’s Note)
• “Self-monitoring of Blood Glucose in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes Not Using Insulin” (Commentary)
• “Self-monitoring of Blood Glucose in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes Not Using Insulin: Leaving No Cornerstone Unturned” (Commentary).

Open Medicine

CADTH’s second article, “Efficacy of self-monitoring of blood glucose in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus managed without insulin: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” is published in Open Medicine.

Interpreting the available literature, Brendan McIntosh et al. affirm that SMBG was associated with a clinically modest, although statistically significant, reduction in hemoglobin A1C concentrations, whether patients were educated on how to interpret and use the test results or not. More studies are needed, however, to determine if SMBG reduces the risk of long-term complications of diabetes and other clinically important outcomes, and which patients are most likely to benefit from self-monitoring.

A related commentary also appears in the same issue:

• “To test or not to test? Self-monitoring of blood glucose in patients with type 2 diabetes managed without insulin” (Commentary).

Both articles are based on CADTH’s extensive research on the practice of SMBG by people living with diabetes, which has generated significant national interest and discussion.

Supporting the Optimal Practice of SMBG — CADTH Resources

To access CADTH’s recommendations, the supporting evidence, and a wealth of user-friendly tools designed to help consumers, health care professionals, and policy- and decision-makers put evidence about SMBG into daily practice, visit us at www.cadth.ca/smbg.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at compusinfo@cadth.ca.

Grey Matters! Finding Grey Literature for Health Topics

This event has concluded on:

Date: Friday, March 12, 2010 – 1:00
Time: 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

The lifeblood of health research is high-quality data. However, the need for accurate, trustworthy, complete data is offset by a contrasting need for privacy and confidentiality with respect to some research data. The seminar provided:

• an overview of international movements toward increased transparency, discussions on the need for proprietary versus public information, and examination of the barriers to open knowledge-sharing
• a thought-provoking session on the issues regarding access to scientific knowledge.

This event was recorded on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 (1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time)

See presentation slides: Download the presentation

See Event Q&A’s: Download the event Q&A’s

Presenters:

• Professor Lloyd Sansom, Chair, Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, Australia
• Dr. Karmela Krleža-Jerić, Senior Advisor, Knowledge Translation, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
• Dr. Judith Glennie, Director, Submissions/Post-Marketing Effectiveness, Janssen-Ortho Inc.
• Trish Groves, Deputy Editor and Senior Research Editor, British Medical Journal (BMJ)
• Linda Wilhelm, Chair, Best Medicines Coalition.

Other Guest Speaker:

• Dr. Janice Graham, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Bioethics in the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University.

Session Moderated By:

• Don Husereau, Senior Advisor, Programs, Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH).

“Dr. Laupacis is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in the science and application of HTA,” said Dr. O’Rourke. “He has made remarkable contributions to the uptake and use of evidence-based information in Canada, including improving HTA methodology, conducting substantive assessments, supporting the adoption of evidence-based policies, and inspiring the next generation of researchers.”

Dr. Laupacis was the first Chair of the Canadian Expert Drug Advisory Committee and is the former President and CEO of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. He is currently Executive Director of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital and a Professor at the Department of Medicine and Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto. He is also a member of the Alberta Health Services Board and chairs its Quality and Safety Committee.

The Jill M. Sanders Award of Excellence in HTA was established by CADTH to celebrate Canadian leadership and excellence in HTA by recognizing individuals whose outstanding achievements have significantly advanced health technology assessment and related fields in Canada.

The Award is named in honour of Dr. Jill M. Sanders, President and CEO of CADTH from 1987 to 2010. Dr. Sanders led the transformation of CADTH from a small office into an agency with a significant and growing impact on the quality and sustainability of health care in Canada and improved health outcomes. She passed away in February following a six-month battle with cancer.

“It is a huge and humbling honour to receive an award named for Jill Sanders who had a real passion for HTA,” said Dr. Laupacis. “The award is a living monument to what she accomplished with CADTH.”

About CADTH

CADTH is an independent, not-for-profit agency funded by Canadian federal, provincial, and territorial governments to provide credible, impartial advice and evidence-based information about the effectiveness of drugs and other health technologies to Canadian health care decision-makers.

Media Contact:

Peter Chinneck
Director, Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives
613-226-4969, ext. 1222
peterc@cadth.ca