Cystic fibrosis researchers come together to tackle priority needs of Canadians living with the disease
Cystic fibrosis researchers come together to tackle priority needs of Canadians living with the disease
Cystic Fibrosis Canada’s Broken Arrow Conference kicks off a new approach to balancing patient needs with impactful, high-quality research
TORONTO, April 26, 2023 – Cystic fibrosis (CF) researchers from across Canada and around the world are convening in Toronto this week at Cystic Fibrosis Canada’s scientific conference, Broken Arrow. The event will culminate in identifying research with the greatest potential to quickly yield discovery that will help to detect and treat airway infections in CF patients. Airway infections are common in people living with cystic fibrosis and the lasting damage they cause is a primary reason the disease remains fatal.
The Broken Arrow Conference is Cystic Fibrosis Canada’s signature research dedicated to cystic fibrosis, a disease that affects approximately 4,300 Canadians and their families. Improving detection and treatment of airway infections is one of the Canadian CF community’s health priorities, as determined by Cystic Fibrosis Canada in consultation with the CF community. In 2021, 87 per cent of people living with CF in Canada had at least one airway infection.
“While it is true that research takes time, that’s exactly what most people living with cystic fibrosis do not have. The approach we are taking at the Broken Arrow Conference is an exciting way to balance the promise and rigour of good scientific research with the urgency of people living with CF today,” says Dr. Paul Eckford, Chief Scientific Officer, Cystic Fibrosis Canada. “By bringing great scientific minds together and focusing on a single problem that the CF community has told us needs to be addressed, we can quickly identify outstanding research opportunities focused on near-term impact.”
The conference will kick-off with two days of scientific talks, with Dr. Jane Davies, Professor of Paediatric Respirology & Experimental Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, delivering the keynote lecture on a personalized approach to treating people with Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. Attendees will hear from cystic fibrosis researchers from across Canada and the globe as well as people living with the disease.
On the last day of the conference, Cystic Fibrosis Canada will host an interactive workshop focused on determining the most outstanding research questions whose answers have the potential to bring one or more new methods of infection detection to clinical practice or improve a method already in use. These research questions have the potential to be answered through a $2 million team grant that Cystic Fibrosis Canada will be awarding next year following a peer-reviewed competition.
Sponsors Vertex, Horizon Therapeutics and Viatris are generously supporting this year’s Broken Arrow Conference, which is taking place for the 18th time. The conference and additional information are available at brokenarrow.cysticfibrosis.ca.
For more information, please contact:
Nicole Young, Director, Marketing and Communications
905-317-5529
nyoung@cysticfibrosis.ca
