CALGARY —
Health Minister Tyler Shandro unveiled new financial support for cancer care in the province during an announcement Monday morning.
Shandro says the provincial government will be investing $10M to a new CAR T-cell therapy program for patients in Alberta with specific types of leukemia and lymphoma, and the Alberta Cancer Foundation will provide an additional $5M to the initiative.
“CAR T-cell therapy trials have demonstrated durable remissions and potential cures in about 50 per cent of adults and 80 per cent of children and young adults,” said Shandro in a statement released during the announcement. “We want to provide Albertans with the same recovery opportunities, and that’s why we’re establishing a made-in-Alberta program. Our government is pleased to be partnering with the Alberta Cancer Foundation to make this happen.”
According to the province, Alberta joins Ontario and Quebec as the only provinces in Canada offering the therapy. A clinical trial of Alberta-manufactured CAR T-cells will be conducted at the Cross Cancer Institute, the Tom Baker Cancer Centre and the Alberta Children’s Hospital and treatment is expected to begin at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre by the end of 2020.
The investment will help fund nursing staff, health care worker training and education, patient education, lab and diagnostic imaging, and follow-up care.
