Our Background

The Natural Health Product Research Society of Canada is a federally incorporated non-profit organization founded in 2003 by a collaboration of academic, industry, and government researchers from across Canada.

In 1998, the Health Canada’s Natural Health Products Directorate began conducting consultations across the country to identify national NHP research priorities. Although these conferences spanned topics ranging from pediatrics to law and ethics, several cross-cutting themes consistently emerged:

  • The need for a national research network
  • The need for a national research database
  • Issues concerning product quality
  • Funding barriers

In March 2003, leading NHP researchers from across Canada met in Winnipeg, Manitoba to discuss these points and to develop an effective strategy for addressing them. A key element emerging from the discussions was the need to form a national research society.

A volunteer committee was elected to accomplish this task. Its members contributed hundreds of hours to create an organizational framework and officially incorporate the NHPRS as a non-profit society. The Society's first annual general meeting was held in Montreal, Québec in February of 2004 in conjunction with the first NHP Research conference. NHPRS has continued to hold acclaimed annual conferences in Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Toronto, attracting world-class scientists as presenters, as well as academic and industry attendees from around the globe.

The goal for these annual events is to draw participation of basic, clinical and social scientists, graduate students and post-docs interested in NHP research, as well as researchers and companies interested in cutting-edge research on NHPs, in areas including:

  • product quality and standards
  • production and processing
  • product development and formulation
  • product safety and efficacy, and
  • clinical use in the prevention and treatment of cancer, diabetes, neurological and immune disorders.

Since 2003, the NHPRS has held an annual research conference and a workshop NHPs in clinical practice:

  • Building Bridges between Government, Academic and Industry NHP Researchers | Montreal 2004
  • Integrating Basic and Clinical Research | Vancouver 2005
  • From Concept to Consumer | Toronto 2006
  • Natural Health Products in Clinical Practice – a Scientific Symposium      | Edmonton 2006
  • Tradition to Technology | Saskatchewan 2007
  • Science Across Borders | Toronto 2008

Highlights from past events were shared through multiple channels, including publications of the American Herbal Products Association. The abstracts from Gateway to Wellness will reach a broader audience this year through publication in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Biology.

A Web-based archive of presenter slides and poster abstracts launched in 2009 is accessible to NHPRS members.
NHPRS Fast Facts

Stewart Cameron, Ph.D., is a tree physiologist at the Canadian Forest Service, NRCan, Atlantic Forestry Centre, Fredericton, New Brunswick, a founding NHPRS member, specializing in research supporting production and commercialization of forest-based natural products, primarily involving the sustainable woodland harvesting and development of elite Taxus canadensis (Canada yew) varieties as a field crop for production of the anti-cancer drug paclitaxel.

For a list of available publications:
Natural Resources Canada Bookstore

 

 

Originally discovered in the slow growing Pacific Yew, the potent anti-cancer natural product, paclitaxel can be derived from the needles of Canada yew, Taxus canadensis.
Originally discovered in the slow growing Pacific Yew, the potent anti-cancer natural product, paclitaxel can be derived from the needles of Canada yew, Taxus canadensis.
Photo: Stewart Cameron

 


Production trials of Canada yew,
Taxus canadensis.
Photo: Stewart Cameron