Braden Manns

Dr. Braden Manns, MD, MSc, FRCPC, is Associate Chief Medical Officer for the Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs) within Alberta Health Services.¹⁾

Manns began his post-secondary education with his Bachelor of Science degree with Honours in Biochemistry from the University of Saskatchewan, graduating in 1990.

He received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Toronto in May 1994, graduating with Honours Standing. He completed a General Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Calgary in 1997, where he was named a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Internal Medicine the following year. He repeated the process with a Nephrology fellowship in 1999. Manns got his Masters in Health Economics at University of York, England, in October 2000.

He returned to complete a post-doctoral fellowship in Health Economics at the University of Calgary in June 2001.²⁾

Manns is Associate Chief Medical Officer for the Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs) within Alberta Health Services.³⁾ He is also Co-Chair of the AHS Scientific Advisory Group alongside Lynora Saxinger, instructing Alberta's COVID-19 response.⁴⁾

In the latter role, Manns co-authored an article insisting that Ivermectin not be used to treat COVID-19. He and his colleagues falsely claimed that “there is no evidence that ivermectin benefits COVID-19 patients, but there are known harms. Ivermectin use has been associated with rash, nausea, vomiting, low blood pressure, abdominal pain, tremors, seizures and severe hepatitis (liver disease) requiring hospitalization.” The conclusion they reach is “Vaccination remains our best means of preventing COVID-19. Our vaccines are safe, fully approved and have been studied in high quality trials of tens of thousands of people.”⁵⁾

The comments left by readers overwhelmingly objected to the authors' statements and accused them of negligence, supporting their criticism with references to the British Ivermectin Recommendation Development (BIRD) Group, Pierre Kory and Sanjay Gupta's heated exchange with Joe Rogan after CNN levelled the same propagandistic claims at him.^{6) 7)}

Members of the public have described Manns as “corrupt”. Dr. William Makis called for his resignation from the Advisory Group and an investigation into why he and his colleagues blocked Ivermectin.⁸⁾

Manns was a member of the Alberta Kidney Disease Network, which was initially funded by an unrestricted grant from Amgen.^{9) 10)}

Manns serves on the Steering Committee for the Alberta Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) Unit (AbSPORU), which is co-funded by Alberta Innovates.¹¹⁾

Manns was a speaker at BC Kidney Days on October 24, 2013. The event was hosted by BC Renal Agency and BC Transplant, and accredited by the Canadian Society of Nephrology. It was sponsored by Amgen, Baxter, Janssen, Alexion, Bellco, Fresenius, Takeda, Gambro, Roche, Abbott Nutrition, Ansell, CardioMed Supplies, Charles River, Chief Medical Supplies, NxStage, Otsuka, Pfizer, Pharmaceutical Partners of Canada (PPC), and Sanofi.¹²⁾

Manns served as a co-lead for the Canadians Seeking Solutions and Innovations to Overcome Chronic Kidney Disease (Can-SOLVE CKD Network). The initiative is funded by Amgen, Bayer, Chinook Therapeutics, Janssen, Otsuka, and others.¹³⁾

Manns served a term as Chair of the Canadian Expert Drug Advisory Committee, a committee that recommends which new drugs should be paid for within publicly funded drug formularies.

Manns served as President of the Canadian Society of Nephrology, funded by Alexion, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Fresenius, GlaxoSmithKline, Horizon Therapeutics, Janssen, Otsuka and Pfizer.^{14) 15) 16)}

Manns received the 2017 Medal for Research Excellence from the Kidney Foundation of Canada, stating “his expertise in applied health economics, health outcomes, pharmaceutical review and priority setting has directly informed health policy and decision-making.”¹⁷⁾ The Foundation receives significant funding from Otsuka.¹⁸⁾

Manns is a member of the Network of Alberta Health Economists.¹⁹⁾

Mann serves as a Special Consultant to Reformulary, a privately-held company that provides drug recommendations.²⁰⁾

Manns is a Professor in Health Economics and a Kidney Specialist at the University of Calgary. In this role, Manns has advocated for increased Federal spending to pay for high cost pharmaceutical drugs in Canada.²¹⁾

He also served as co-lead for the University's Interdisciplinary Chronic Disease Collaboration, which was funded by Alberta Innovates (which is partnered with Pfizer).²²⁾

Manns has received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Foundation.²³⁾

Manns has also had publications funded by Alberta Innovates, which is partnered with Pfizer.^{24) 25)}

One such study is “COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Attitudes and Beliefs in Canada: National Cross-sectional Survey and Cluster Analysis”, which concluded “Messaging related to preventing COVID among friends and family, highlighting the benefits, emphasizing safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination, and ensuring that health care workers are knowledgeable and supported in their vaccination counselling may be effective for vaccine-hesitant populations.”²⁶⁾

Another is “Characterization of non-adopters of COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions through a national cross-sectional survey to assess attitudes and behaviours”.²⁷⁾

Yet another is “Attitudes, behaviours and barriers to public health measures for COVID-19: a survey to inform public health messaging”.²⁸⁾

Manns has received funding via an unrestricted grant from Baxter.²⁹⁾

• SCN Podcast - December 2021³⁰⁾

• White Rose Wiki