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WATCH: Doctors say Ottawa is creating a crisis by cutting funding for major drug trials – and eliminating important safeguards. Vassy Kapelos has our exclusive report.

OTTAWA — Doctors and scientists say Ottawa has quietly decided to cut funding for some major drug trials, eliminating a critical safeguard for Canadians’ health.

The cuts will hit large randomized controlled trials, or RCTs, which, for decades, have been considered the best way to determine whether drugs on the market are safe.

“Many crucial questions relating to the treatment of their medical conditions won’t be addressed,” said Dr. PJ Devereaux.

Devereaux is one of 140 doctors and scientists across the country who have written a letter, printed in full below, to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The letter states the changes to the funding of major RCTs “…would decimate the field and have substantial negative consequences to scientific progress and the health of Canadians.”

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“We’ve now seen so many letters from scientists and researchers — it’s part of a bigger picture … that we have a Conservative government that is just hell bent on cutting back on everything.”