The Faculty of Pharmacy at Université Laval sees the creation of the Treatment Compliance Chair as a means to help improve population health and well-being. Medication is a part of everyday life for many Quebecers. A number, however, have trouble following their treatment correctly. The new Chair was set up thanks to a $2 million grant over five years from AstraZeneca Canada, Merck Frosst Canada, Pfizer Canada, sanofi-aventis, and "Prends soin de toi," a community health program that is funded by research-based pharmaceutical companies in Quebec and whose main goal is to support local projects designed to improve mental health services.
The Chair was unveiled in the presence of Dr. Yves Bolduc, Minister of Health and Social Services, Mark Jones, President and CEO of AstraZeneca Canada, Dr. Michel Cimon, Medical Director of Merck Frosst Canada, Paul Lévesque, President of Pfizer Canada, Hugh O'Neill, President and CEO of sanofi-aventis Canada, Edwin Bourget, Vice Rector of Research and Creation, Jean-Pierre Grégoire, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, and Jocelyne Moisan, Chair holder.
"Patients are considered to be complying with their treatment when they follow all the therapeutic advice and recommendations provided by a healthcare professional. Treatment compliance means, for example, taking medication for as long as the doctor recommends and taking all prescribed doses. Our goal is to help people better manage their treatment and thereby improve their quality of life," stresses the Chair holder. Research will first help us better understand how Quebecers comply with their treatment and will then identify the factors that may help them properly follow their treatment. Various means will then be used to improve compliance in partnership with doctors, pharmacists, and patient groups.
For Vice Rector of Research and Creation Edwin Bourget, the new Chair "demonstrates that partnerships between pharmaceutical companies and Université Laval are decisive in promoting the advancement of health research and beneficial for quality of life in Quebec."
The Treatment Compliance Chair is located at the Population Health Research Unit of Centre hospitalier affilié universitaire de Québec Centre - Hôpital du Saint-Sacrement. The Chair's interdisciplinary team consists of researchers, research professionals, graduate students from the Faculty of Pharmacy, and numerous collaborators.
Mark Jones of AstraZeneca Canada stresses that "the Chair that Université Laval is officially launching today dovetails perfectly with a set of social measures that we support and whose goal is to promote population health, extending from prevention to therapeutic intervention."
"Merck Frosst is proud to support this collaborative partnership between Université Laval and the private sector, which will foster better research and solutions to improve health outcomes for the people of Quebec," said Dr. Michel Cimon, Medical Director of Merck Frosst Canada. "Addressing patient non-compliance to drug therapy is critical to ensuring that all Quebecers receive the best healthcare possible."
"As both president of a company dedicated to innovation in health and a graduate of Université Laval, I am delighted with this initiative, which should have a significant impact on the well-being of patients and health economics," specified Paul Lévesque of Pfizer Canada.
"We're confident that the Chair will promote the optimal use of medicines and underscore what we at sanofi-aventis Canada have long believed: that innovative medicines, properly administered to the appropriate patients, are not costs to be borne but investments that will deliver important savings in healthcare," said Hugh O'Neill from sanofi-aventis Canada.
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