VICTORIA -- The British Columbia government is providing $2 million to the ALS Society of BC, helping to establish a permanent ALS research professorship at the University of British Columbia. The province says the dedicated clinician and scientist will support patients living with the disease through care and research for a cure, with the goal of increasing patients' access to local clinical trials. Health Minister Adrian Dix says clinical trials for ALS haven't happened in B.C. for nearly a decade and patients have been left out of trials that mostly happen outside the province and Canada. He says local clinical trials would mean patients have the chance to participate in potentially life-changing research closer to home.