“CAR T-cell therapy offers these patients hope for recovery and hope that their lives will return to normal.”
The treatment uses a patient’s own immune cells to fight cancer. A type of white blood cell called T-cells are taken out of their body, genetically reprogrammed in a lab to attack cancer cells, and then infused back into the person so they can find and destroy cancer cells.
About 150 patients in Alberta are expected to be eligible for the immunotherapy over the next three years.
Daly said between 30 and 60 Albertans die every year from a relapse of certain kinds of lymphoma and leukemia. If their initial treatment is no longer effective, CAR T-cell therapy could be a last resort.
“By developing a CAR T-cell program in Alberta, some of our sickest patients will have access to this medically necessary care through our public health-care system.”
Alberta Minister of Health Tyler Shandro announces a new investment in cancer care at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary on Monday, August 24, 2020. /Gavin Young/Postmedia
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada president Alicia Talarico said in a statement that making CAR T-cell therapy more widely available means more patients can get “game-changing” treatment that could be “their only chance to survive cancer.”
Shandro said that after this year’s clinical trial, treatment is set to start in the winter of 2020 at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, with the two other clinical trial sites following. The Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton is expected to also start offering the treatment by 2023.
According to the government, the new funding will pay for the clinical trial as well as health worker training, nursing staff, diagnostic imaging and followup care.
The treatment costs about $400,000 per patient, on average. The total $15-million investment includes $10 million from the provincial government and $5 million from the Alberta Cancer Foundation.
“Albertans with cancer need access to the most innovative, the most successful treatments, and they need it in a timely way,” Shandro said.
CAR T-cell therapy is also offered in Ontario and Quebec.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.
The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.
The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was little changed in late-morning trading as the financial sector fell, but energy and base metal stocks moved higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 0.05 of a point at 24,224.95.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 94.31 points at 42,417.69. The S&P 500 index was down 10.91 points at 5,781.13, while the Nasdaq composite was down 29.59 points at 18,262.03.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.71 cents US compared with 73.05 cents US on Wednesday.
The November crude oil contract was up US$1.69 at US$74.93 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was up a penny at US$2.67 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$14.70 at US$2,640.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up two cents at US$4.42 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2024.
