On May 24, 2019, BioCanRx met with members of its Cancer Stakeholder Alliance at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research headquarters in downtown Toronto. The primary goals of the meeting were to discuss Cycle Two Joint Action Plan priorities and to receive helpful feedback from various non-profit partners regarding patient experience and interaction with BioCanRx projects.
It was recently announced that BioCanRx’s Networks of Centres of Excellence funding would be truncated, and as a result the network has been forced to adjust its projected timeline from ten more years down to three. BioCanRx is applying for a three-year funding renewal which would begin when the current funding cycle ends in March 2020.
Building on previous BioCanRx investments in Cycle One, the overarching goal of the Cycle Two Research Program will focus on extending immunotherapy successes in the clinic beyond initial responders.
It was an information-filled meeting, with many items to discuss, including a review of Cycle One BioCanRx-CSA Joint Action plan achievements and roundtable discussions regarding current and potential future priorities for BioCanRx moving forward. There was also a presentation given by Madison Foster and Gisell Castillo, research assistants of BioCanRx Network Investigator Dr. Manoj Lalu. They discussed GO-CART Program patient training as well as outcomes of the Patient-Researcher Roundtable held during last year’s Summit for Cancer Immunotherapy.
Overall, it was a productive event, with many opportunities for cancer stakeholders to network and reconnect and to engage on realizing strong legacy from the work carried out by the CSA. BioCanRx is now working to ensure that key takeaways from the discussions will be incorporated into our strategy for the future.
The BioCanRx Cancer Stakeholder Alliance (CSA) is a consortium of charities and non-government organizations that are focused on cancer research, advocacy, and support for patients and their families. BioCanRx works with the CSA to ensure the inclusion of the patient experience and perspective in all activities, as well as to improve the accessibility of research information to cancer stakeholders.
Learn more about the CSA here: https://biocanrx.com/about/governance/cancer-stakeholder-alliance
