An anonymous donor sent more than $18 million to the BC Cancer Foundation which can now bring a cutting-edge cancer treatment to the British Columbia province, in Canada. The donation would be employed for the development of a new Molecular Imaging and Therapeutics program, dedicated to the production of radiopharmaceuticals, also known as drugs with radioactivity.
“Emerging research proves that radioactive particles can deliver drugs directly to the site of metastatic cancers, killing the cancer cells and saving the healthy tissue surrounding them,” said the BC Cancer Foundation’s representatives via a press release.
The BC Cancer Foundation’s Molecular Imaging and Therapeutics program, headed by Dr. Francois Benard, is expected to expand significantly within the next five years and boost the new cancer treatment based on the development of radioactive isotope therapies.
According to Benard, the radioactive isotope treatments have been successfully implementing in the therapy of thyroid cancer, but thanks to the anonymous donation the research can now expand.
New Cancer Treatment To Come To British Columbia Thanks To An $18 Million Anonymous Donation
“We have recently developed probes that bind specifically to cancer cells enabling us to apply this technology to treat many more cancers, notably prostate,” stated Benard during the recent press release.
“With these game-changing funds, our team at BC Cancer can address the urgent need to improve outcomes for thousands of people in our province who are diagnosed with incurable cancer each year,” the researcher added.
“Today marks an important moment in cancer research and care in Canada with one of the largest donations ever made to bring new treatment solutions to patients,” said the BC Cancer Foundation’s president Sarah Roth in a statement. She also added that the $18 million anonymous donation is “grounded in hope and science with an opportunity to save lives here in B.C., across the country and globe.”
