Minister Clément Gignac announces a total of $673,800 of financial support to McGill University

The Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade, Clément Gignac, today announced a total of $673,000 of financial support for a McGill University research team.

The Ministère du Développement économique, de l’Innovation et de l’Exportation (MDEIE) joins the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and MSBi Valorisation (MSBiV), a valorization company specializing in commercialization of university scientific research results, with the aim of enabling Dr. Gabriella Gobbi’s team to develop a new therapeutic approach for the treatment insomnia.

"Thanks to the update of the 2010-2013 Québec Research and Innovation Strategy (QRIS), the Gouvernement du Québec is putting measures in place that are intended to favour improvement of our performance in innovation and our competitiveness. Support for this research project is consistent with my vision of Québec’s economic development: a creative, entrepreneurial Québec," Minister Clément Gignac declared.

The researchers, who will collaborate with their colleagues from the Universities of Parma, Urbino and Milan, have good reason to hope that this new drug will generate less side effects than the treatments currently sold on the market.

"The current sleep supplements tend to generate side effects, such as habituation, cognitive disorders and sleep cycle disturbances," explained Dr. Gabriella Gobbi, Associate Professor at McGill University and psychiatrist with the McGill University Health Centre. "Thanks to this financial support, we can continue our work in order to develop a new class of drugs with an innovative action mechanism, which will hope will cause few side effects and improve the quality of sleep."

The non-repayable financial contribution granted by the MDEIE falls under the QRIS through the Support for valorization and transfer program - Support for technological maturation component. The purpose of this component is to support universities, university hospital centres, public research centres and college centres for the transfer of technology (CCTT) constituted as not-for-profit organizations (NPO), in their valorization of research results and knowledge transfer activities.

Nancy-Sonia Trudelle , Ministère du Développement économique, de l’Innovation et de l’Exportation - Tel.: 418 691-5698 Ext. 3710

Anne-Sophie Desmeules , Cabinet du ministre du Développement économique, de l’Innovation et de l’Exportation - Tel.: 418 691-5650

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