Ottawa announces $27 million for Coronavirus R&D

OTTAWA – To further contribute to global efforts to address the COVID-19 outbreak, today, the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Canada’s Minister of Health, and the Honourable Navdeep Bains (pictured), Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced an investment of nearly $27 million to fund coronavirus research.

Due to the overwhelming response to the call for research applications, the Government of Canada increased its original investment from $7 million to $27 million. This investment will support 47 research teams from across Canada that will focus on accelerating the development, testing, and implementation of measures to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak.

The research will help inform clinical and public health responses, develop and evaluate diagnostic tools and vaccines, as well as create strategies to tackle misinformation, stigma, and fear.

“Our government knows that science is at the heart of innovation and a top priority to keep Canadians safe and healthy. Today’s investment will go a long way to help support life-saving research, as we collaborate with international partners to manage the coronavirus outbreak,” said Minister Bains.

The Government of Canada is providing the funding for this research through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Canada Research Coordinating Committee (CRCC) through the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and Genome Canada (GC).

• CIHR is contributing $16.4M
• NSERC is contributing $700,000
• SSHRC is contributing $900,000
• CRCC through NFRF is providing $7M
• IDRC is providing $1.5M to researchers and/or collaborators from research institutions based in low- and middle-income countries
• Genome Canada is contributing $250,000

The total investment for this research is $26.8M.

The investment will support 47 projects across two research areas to ensure a balanced research response.

A breakdown of the funding can be found at: https://www.canada.ca/en/institutes-health-research/news/2020/03/government-of-canada-invests-27m-in-coronavirus-research–details-of-the-funded-projects.html.