Cancer touches nearly every family in Canada. It is the leading cause of death in the country, and it is estimated to cost the health care system, patients, and families nearly $37.7 billion every year from hospital care and medications to lost wages, reduced productivity, and out-of-pocket expenses. Yet up to 40% of cancer cases could be prevented through changes in lifestyle and environmental factors a powerful reminder that prevention strategies, alongside early detection and research, can save lives and reduce the burden of cancer.
On February 26, the Honourable Marjorie Michel, Minister of Health, visited UHN’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto to announce that the Government of Canada and partners are investing over $41 million in ground-breaking cancer prevention research. This funding will support 19 teams that will work over the next five years to develop and share new approaches that support cancer prevention, reduce cancer risk, and improve early detection for some of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in Canada and the world.
Six research funding organizations, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Terry Fox Research Institute, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, the Cancer Research Society, and BioCanRx, have come together to provide the funding for these teams in a demonstration of the power of collaboration to solve big problems. It is the single largest CIHR-led investment in cancer prevention research to date.
Researchers across Canada will explore innovative ideas with the potential to reshape how we prevent cancer from testing whether common diabetes and weight-loss drugs can lower the risk of breast, blood, or obesity-related cancers, to uncovering how gut bacteria influence the development of prostate and colorectal cancer. Teams are also investigating how early stomach lesions turn cancerous, advancing the science of cancer vaccines, and developing new prevention options for women at high genetic risk of breast or ovarian cancer. One team is collaborating with researchers from Japan to better understand the links between aging and early-onset colorectal and pancreatic cancers.
Together, these projects will accelerate our progress towards a future where cancer prevention is more proactive, more personalized, and more within reach reducing the number of Canadians who get sick, lowering health care costs, and helping more people stay healthy, active, and able to participate fully in work, family life, and their communities.