Saskatchewan Cancer Agency Hematologist, Dr. Mark Bosch calls a new immunotherapy called CAR T therapy an amazing revolution in cancer care. The province has announced funding to have this therapy available in Saskatchewan at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon. There is just over $2-million from the government to develop a commercial CAR T program, and then each year, about $6.7-million will be used to operate the program and fund the cost of treatment for patients.

Dr. Bosch explains that up until January, eligible patients had to travel outside of the province for this therapy, away from friends and family. He says this option is giving hope to some patients who are not responding to existing treatments or who have already exhausted all other conventional options. The patient’s immune cells are sent to the U.S. where they are modified and multiplied and then sent back. Bosch says, “When these engineered cells come in contact with cancer cells, they will immediately destroy them throughout the patient’s body.” He estimates the success rate at about 50 per cent for long term survival, but adds that these are patients who otherwise would have died, and he expects that this type of therapy will be used in other diseases in the future.

Gary Carriere of Cumberland House had to leave his family and travel to Montreal for treatment last fall. He says it was lonely and he is glad it is now available in Saskatoon. Carriere points out that you are fighting for your life and then you have to travel to another province without your family support around you. He adds that when you have been told on more than one occasion that you may die and then there is this new therapy, being in a familiar place, surrounded by the people you love most, can make all the difference in the world.