A Message from Dr. John Bell, Scientific Director and Dr. Stéphanie Michaud, President & CEO BioCanRx
A future without cancer – it’s easy enough to imagine:
A future without the immense burden of this disease on individuals, communities and health systems. A future without toxic and damaging treatment as the primary option for survival. A future without ten million people dying annually, without global cases increasing by 19.3 million and Canadian cases increasing by 226,000, as they did this past year. A future without the stunningly regular occurrence of people in Canada and around the world losing cherished friends and family members far too soon.
A future without cancer. It’s easy enough to imagine, but frustratingly difficult to achieve.
BioCanRx is up to the challenge: we are continually working toward a cancer-free future through supporting our network of immunotherapy researchers across the country, involving and engaging patient partners in our projects, helping to foster the next generation of cancer researchers and biotechnology workers, and uniting with government and industry organizations to pursue solutions in access, affordability, and ensuring we have the know-how and infrastructure to get things done. As our researchers continue to discover new ways to combat cancer using the intelligence of the body’s own immune system, these and other integrated activities act as catalysts in moving the most promising cancer immunotherapies from the research lab to the patient.
We are getting ever-closer to achieving our vision of curing and enhancing the quality of life of those living with cancer, and there are also hopeful statistics to keep in mind. Cancer survival rates in Canada have been improving in the last 20 years, and death rates for specific indications like lung and breast have been steadily declining. BioCanRx is working to improve outcomes for patients by accelerating the development of promising immunotherapy treatments which could be more effective, affordable and safe than conventional cancer therapies.
On World Cancer Day, BioCanRx reasserts our commitment to this cause, alongside the UICC and all those working to eliminate cancer; WE ARE a Canadian translational cancer research network and WE WILL continue our work to bring a future without cancer that much closer to reality.
