The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation is receiving $50 million to fund research focused on early cancer detection and "transforming" cancer screenings.
Donated by the Peter Gilgan Foundation, the "unprecedented gift" will be going toward establishing the Peter Gilgan Centre for Early Cancer Detection Research. This will make it the "largest research program of its kind in the world."
Formed in 2006, the foundation supports "high-impact charitable initiatives" that focus on building healthier and sustainable futures, according to its website. Its namesake, Peter Gilgan, is CEO of Mattamy Homes and "continues to be the largest benefactor to health care in Canada," according to a press release from the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.
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The program is built around three pillars, each focusing on a critical aspect of the centre. The first and second pillar focus on research, new technology and implementation. The third focuses on running clinical trials and monitoring what treatments are effective.
Dr. Trevor Pugh, one of the study's leading researchers, said the centre is focused on early detection and will bring in clinical teams and researchers together. "It's a multi-year donation, a multi-year study but I think we're already seeing the collaborative impact.
"It's really created quite a buzz around the research centre."
The ultimate goal of this program is to "find cancer at the earliest possible stage," such as looking at a person's genetic markers and understanding immune system reactions to cancer.
The program will start with blood testing but Pugh says they'll have the opportunity to explore what other body fluids can identify possible cancers, such as saliva.
"We want to make it even easier for patients to get monitored for cancer."
The centre will also help "surveil" younger people, where Pugh says they're seeing a "boom of cancer." Cancer statistics show that 40 per cent of those diagnosed are between age 20 to 64, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.
Dr. Keith Stewart, director of Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, says this "targeted investment" will help take the centre's established research to the "next level." "What we're setting out to do is figure out how we can find more cancers early in there, cure more people and prevent them from recurring in the future."
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The work the centre does has the opportunity to be "influential around the world," Stewart said. "This major gift will really allow us to accelerate our progress along those lines."
Survival rates improve when cancer is detected early, yet around 50 per cent of cancers are diagnosed when they reach an "advanced stage," according to a 2022 research study.
"We will find more people at risk. We will find more people who are likely to already have early cancer and we will be able to cure more people."