2020 Research Investments

With the onset of the pandemic, many healthcare resources were reallocated and research projects suspended to prioritize those with Covid-19 and keep healthcare workers safe. The impact of the Covid-19 crisis on Canadian hospitals, the experience of our community, and our capacity as a national charity was undeniable. Like many charitable organizations across Canada, we experienced a decrease in donations over the course of the year, so we worked with our research partners to determine where we could defer payments in ways that wouldn’t slow down progress. This also allowed us to respond to the heightened need for urgent, tangible support services and awareness projects, giving our community what they desperately needed in their most challenging hours. 

NeoPancONE

Dr. Jennifer Knox, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (ON)

NeoPancONE aims to usher in a new standard of care for resectable pancreatic cancer in Canada, while measuring an important potential biomarker (GATA6) to understand which patients will respond best to this treatment in the future. Patients receive six courses of chemotherapy (modified FOLFIRINOX) before and after surgery, first to shrink the pancreatic cancer tumour and then after to eliminate any remaining cancer cells, with the goal of giving patients a greater chance at disease-free survival.

This year we were able to honour commitments to set up the affiliated NeoPancONE trial sites so that enrolment could begin as soon as hospitals were ready amid the ongoing pandemic. These trial sites include:

• Jewish General Hospital (QC)
• Kingston General Health Research Institute (ON)
• London Health Sciences (ON)
• Unity Health (ON)
• The Ottawa Hospital (ON)