James Campbell, president and CEO of the Greater Toronto Region Housing Corporation.
TORONTO – Vice-chair of the Toronto Public Health board Mary Ann Gould says she can see why people responded negatively to her column about COVID-19, the first of its kind drug for chronic lung disease.
“I certainly understand the frustration, the community wanting to know what I see, that’s my feeling too,” Gould said.
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“It’s not my job to the point where I’m going out and saying we don’t have a drug for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, I have access to a drug.”
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In her column in the Toronto Sun, Gould said COVID-19 was created after the first person died from a drug related to COPD.
“Until the CPP clinical trial that just finished, there was no targeted prescription drug therapy available for these patients,” she wrote.
“While numerous COPD researchers are working on novel, effective and accessible COPD therapies, there has been no shortage of researchers who continue to push for a drug for use in clinical settings to complement the current therapies. I’m in favour of expediting the development of the first one.”
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COPD is a lung disease that is hard to diagnose and can be the first sign of breathing problems, but its impact is spread across the body. Statistics from Canadian Lung Association suggest that 1 in 3 Canadians has COPD and the disease causes more hospitalizations than anyone else, except heart disease.
The program has achieved proven results with its trial, and when it was reviewed, it was found to be $2 billion better for society than a straight drug therapy.
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In the meantime, there are several different drugs for COPD.
“If they went and got the absolute best drug for COPD, they would not get any better,” Gould said.
“There is going to be a drug that will have the potential of working. It’s just going to take a long time to make it to market.”
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As chair of the Toronto Public Health Board, Gould said it was her responsibility to encourage more research of the drug.
“The first half of this year we had our wellness fair, and we had lung specialists coming to talk about COPD,” she said.
“I haven’t met any of them who are not in favour of moving forward with the research for the medication so that it will help those patients.”
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Gould says she wrote the column to help promote dialogue.
“It’s really been a good exercise for me to engage people in the community and really to try to start the dialogue,” she said.
With files from Lauren Mackey, Global News.