CBC Ideas recently aired the CIHR New Emerging Team for Rare Diseases and the Global Reporting Centre’s Town Hall on Rare Diseases: Developing a Canadian Strategy for Rare Disease Treatments episode. Hear the episode here.

The Town Hall on Rare Diseases brought together a diverse panel of speakers to discuss the challenges of providing costly drugs for Canadians suffering from rare diseases.

The public town hall, hosted by Paul Kennedy of CBC Ideas, took place on October 23rd, 2018 , at the BMO Theatre in Vancouver’s Olympic Village. The event was well attended and included a panel of clinicians, patients and policy makers.

This production was the culmination of six years of work by the CIHR New Emerging Team for Rare Diseases and the Global Reporting Centre, which investigated the impact of rare diseases on Canadian families, and options to improve access to effective therapies.