Health research champion Drew Lyall dies at 49

Media release   Andrew Lyall (Drew), founding President and CEO of BioCanRx, died this weekend, after he, his family and physicians waged a long fight against melanoma. He was 49.     Drew’s influence on health research, especially the biomedical world of stem cell research, was strong and unmistakable – extraordinary because he was not […]

First cancer-killing virus therapy approved by the FDA

On Oct. 27, 2015, the U.S. FDA gave its first approval for the use of a cancer-killing virus therapy, or oncolytic virus. Specifically, the FDA approved Amgen’s Imlygic, which is generically known as T-VEC, for the treatment of melanoma lesions in the skin and lymph nodes.   “This approval is a huge milestone for the […]

BioCanRx investigators receive $5M to develop virus therapy for prostate cancer

News item   Prostate Cancer Canada and the Movember Foundation have partnered to award $5 million to 2020 to a multi-disciplinary team of scientists and clinicians led by BioCanRx Scientific Director, Dr. John Bell. The team is mainly composed of BioCanRx network investigators who are working together to develop a treatment specifically for prostate cancer […]

Pancreatic cancer loses viral defences when talking with supporting cells

Media release   Ottawa researchers have unlocked a way to make pancreatic cancer cells more vulnerable to cancer-killing viruses, known as oncolytic viruses. Outlined in a paper published today by Nature Medicine, the scientists have discovered how they can exploit the communication, or cross-talk, between pancreatic cancer and a specific cell type that supports the […]