WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government is setting aside $500,000 for future clinical trials of a controversial treatment for multiple sclerosis, one of several MS funding measures announced Friday by Health Minister Theresa Oswald. The money would be used to test the “liberation” treatment developed by Dr. Paolo Zamboni. The Italian vascular specialist has hypothesized that MS is related to blocked neck veins, a condition he has dubbed chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency, or CCSVI. “We have always said our government is willing to fund CCSVI clinical trials and today we are taking a step forward by establishing a fund for this research, if and when it is deemed safe and ethical to proceed,” said Oswald. The Manitoba government wants to see a pan-Canadian, multi-site approach to clinical trials of the experimental therapy instead of small, unco-ordinated studies using different methods that could produce conflicting findings. The funding being put in reserve will allow the province to move quickly if evidence from diagnostic studies now underway in Canada and elsewhere support the move to clinical trials of the treatment.