Hospitals in Sudbury, Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie are setting up a plan to work together for more clinical trials that will provide northern Ontario patients more access to new and cutting-edge cancer treatments.
Dr. Lacey Pitre, an oncologist at Health Sciences North (HSN), is the project lead on the group that will have HSN working with Timmins and District Hospital and the Sault Area Hospital. Pitre is also a member of a pan-Canadian working group, the Canadian Remote Access Framework for Clinical Trials (CRAFT).
Pitre is one of the Health Sciences North Research Institute’s Cancer Solutions research co-leads, along with her colleague Dr. Deborah Saunders, said a statement from HSN.
In the past, rural patients have traditionally been excluded from clinical trials by reason of specific geographic boundaries. Also, travel was a deterrent for many patients as both treatment and travel could be physically draining on them.
“At the North East Cancer Centre, we have 12 satellite sites,” said Pitre. “About 50 per cent of our patients receive treatment at those sites, which means about 50 per cent of our patients aren’t eligible for clinical trials.”
Pitre said the lack of access to clinical trials in rural areas is also a health equity issue. She said many Indigenous and Francophone individuals are receiving treatment at the satellite sites and don’t regularly get access to the main site at the Ramsey Lake Health Centre.
Pitre said there are two compelling reasons why the new partnership is important to the North.
“One is creating better health equity for our Francophone and Indigenous patients. The other is to ensure that our clinical trial data is inclusive, and does not just apply to one particular group or ethnicity.”
HSN said project co-lead Saunders will provide guidance to the team as they determine the roles and responsibilities for the partnership.
“Our goal is to provide hope for all cancer patients in the north by providing access to clinical trials beyond the five common cancers that afflict the majority of our patients,” said Saunders.
HSN said the CRAFT project is funded with the support of the Canadian Cancer Clinical Trials Network, through collaboration and financial support from the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer Corporation and Health Canada. At HSN, the project is also supported by the Northern Cancer Foundation and Roche Canada.