Meri-Jo Thompson, Program Manager of the local Cancer Clinical Trials Office, and Femina Kanji, a Research Associate with Clinical Trials, gave a very interesting presentation on the dramatic advancements that have occurred over the past decade in fighting cancer. Here is a brief overview:

- The local cancer Clinical Trials Office is able to leverage $8 for every $1 that the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation has invested.

- All cancer treatments and protocols that doctors are using today were at one point developed and tested in clinical trials.

- Cancer clinical trials are research studies where scientists take new therapies or new drug treatments or protocols – and apply those in the clinic today for patients who are battling cancer. They give doctors the opportunity to test out new drug therapies and new methods of treatment that are less invasive and have fewer side effects. 

- Physicians follow patients throughout the trial to ensure the new treatment options are safe and effective. If the treatment or method is found to have a positive impact and meets the criteria, it eventually becomes standard of care for all cancer patients.

- Through the generosity of donors, over the past 8 years, the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation has supported every clinical trial that has offered hope to patients with cancer. Thousands of families have benefited from these new treatment options. The Cancer Foundation has invested more than $3.4 million in local cancer clinical trials

- Here in Ottawa, we are fortunate to be developing a centre of excellence for clinical trials. This distinction gives local patients the opportunity to be part of the very latest treatment options. These include new targeted therapies, oncolytic viruses, immunotherapies... all available in Ottawa in part because of the generosity of donors, like the Rotary Club of Ottawa South.

- This past year alone, there were 3 first in human clinical trials where Ottawa was the very first location anywhere in the world to offer the new treatment.