By Silvia Senna

Cancer Care

Life-saving cancer therapy now being provided in British Columbia

Mar 10, 2024 | 1:15 PM

VANCOUVER — Cancer patients affected by certain advanced leukemias and lymphomas will now have better access to chimeric antigen receptor T-Cell (CAR-T) therapy closer to home, as the therapy becomes available in the province.

“Cancer touches the lives of so many people in British Columbia,” Premier David Eby in a Ministry of Health press release published on Sunday (March 9). “Our goal is to lead the country with better and faster ways to prevent, detect and treat cancers so we can stop this disease in its tracks. That’s why, starting now, we are supporting eligible cancer patients and their families who are facing the most devastating cancer threats by providing CAR-T therapy right here in British Columbia.”

Therapy access comes as result of partnership between the Province and BC Cancer, Provincial Laboratory Medicine Services, Vancouver General Hospital and BC Children’s Hospital, according to the press release.

Intake and patient assessment began in January 2024, with the first treatment starting in March 2024. During initial implementation, 20 adults will be treated at Vancouver General Hospital and an estimated five children/youth per year will be treated at BC Children’s Hospital.

“This is an important milestone in our continuing efforts to enhance treatment options and expand access to life saving cancer care services for people living in B.C.,” Adrian Dix, minister of health, said in the press release. “We know that the incidence of cancer is increasing as our population ages and grows at unprecedented rates. That is why we are bolstering our resources and infrastructure to benefit and empower patients and health-care professionals with the support they need in our fight against cancer.”

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Through Budget 2024, the Province notes it is investing $270 million over the next three years to provide people with better access to oncologists and specialized cancer diagnostics and treatments, including PET-CT scans, genomic testing, precision radiation therapy, new targeted anti-cancer drugs and specialized immunotherapy.

According to the release, the funding will also support the elimination cervical cancer in B.C., improving in-province access to radiation and systemic (chemo) therapies, increasing support for and collaboration with primary-care providers and recruiting additional cancer-care positions.

Budget 2024 also provides funding for capital projects to further support B.C.’s 10-Year Cancer Action Plan, including cancer centres in Kamloops, Nanaimo, Burnaby and Surrey and other cancer initiatives, according to the release.

The B.C. government had previously assured Kamloops that construction on the approved Kamloops cancer care centre at Royal Inland Hospital (RIH) will begin in 2025. The Kamloops cancer centre’s completion in 2028 is later than the goal of patients receiving treatment in 2027 as outlined by Dix in May 2023. The BC NDP government gave its first promise of the long-awaited Kamloops cancer centre when former premier John Horgan visited Thompson Rivers University ahead of the 2020 B.C. election.