Dr. Bernard Thébaud, neonatologist and senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital, with one of the newborn babies at the hospital.Supplied
Backed by the collective expertise of its world-class scientists and clinicians working with advanced equipment and state-of-the-art facilities, The Ottawa Hospital is driving the development of what could be the first major breakthrough in the medical care of premature babies for more than 20 years.
Every year in Canada, 1,000 premature babies are born with under-developed lungs and require the long-term use of oxygen to support their breathing. This often leads to bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) – a chronic lung disease that can impact them for the rest of their lives.
The Ottawa Hospital’s Ottawa Methods Centre – a one-stop shop for helping researchers at the hospital design, conduct and share the results of their research – has been instrumental in planning the trials to develop a therapy to prevent BPD or regenerate a newborn baby’s lungs, says Dr. Bernard Thébaud, neonatologist and senior scientist at the hospital.
The BPD initiative is one of many cutting-edge research projects at The Ottawa Hospital that is supported by the Ottawa Methods Centre, often described as the ‘secret ingredient’ behind the hospital’s success in research.
“If you want to launch world-first stem cell clinical trials, Ottawa is where you want to be, particularly at The Ottawa Hospital, because of our world-class Ottawa Methods Centre,” says Dr. Thébaud.
But research is not just a means to an end, he adds; it’s critical to have the right people and processes in place to persevere and translate discoveries into therapy for patients.
“The Ottawa Hospital is one of the top hospitals in Canada for attracting federal funding and support from other agencies like the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, but it’s not enough to do all the work from the bench to the bedside,” he says.
That’s why donor funding through The Ottawa Hospital Foundation is so critical to the hospital.
“Donor funding allows us to maintain crucial shared facilities like our Ottawa Methods Centre and our stem cell manufacturing labs,” says Dr. Thébaud, who is also affiliated with CHEO and the University of Ottawa. “It gives us the flexibility to act when new opportunities present themselves, and to buy the tools that enable us to stay at the forefront of stem cell research in the world,” says Dr. Thébaud.
The research team is currently preparing for an early phase clinical trial to test the feasibility and safety of a new therapy for BPD in premature babies, using stem cells from the umbilical cords of healthy babies.
Dr. Manoj Lalu, associate scientist and anesthesiologist at The Ottawa Hospital, is co-leading the Ottawa Methods Centre’s pioneering program to help researchers like Dr. Thébaud launch these early phase trials. He says new approaches are leading to more successful clinical trials. These include systematic reviews of previous clinical trials and all pre-clinical studies done in laboratories.
“For BPD, we looked at every single laboratory study that was performed on stem cell therapy for premature models and found that, overwhelmingly, these are really positive. That strengthened the decision to go to trial for this therapy,” he says.
The team also interviews parents of premature babies and physicians involved in caring for these patients.
“We asked the parents, ‘What would make you want to or not want to participate in this trial?’ so we could make the trial meet their needs as well,” he says, noting in some cases the team has had a patient partner attend meetings working on the trial design.
“These are all very new concepts. And especially in the first-in-human early phase, where we’ve got these exciting ideas in the lab and want to bring them to patients,” says Dr. Lalu.
Jamie Eberts knows first-hand the impact a stem cell therapy for BPD could have had on her twins born at 23-and-a-half weeks’ gestation. The twins suffered from BPD as the oxygen used to help their underdeveloped lungs breath, and keep them alive, also damaged their lungs. Sadly, one twin, a son named Liam did not survive, while their daughter, Olivia, continues to experience the effects of the disease.
Ms. Eberts knows just how life-changing this stem cell therapy could be for other families, and she supports the research and the progress to clinical trials.
“I’m the biggest cheerleader for this research being conducted at The Ottawa Hospital, which isn’t happening anywhere else in North America,” she says.
For more information, visit ohfoundation.ca.
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