Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here today.
Good morning.
Thank you for inviting me. My presentation will be in English.
I want to tell you about ovarian cancer today, which affects thousands of Canadians, and illustrate how a small investment by the Canadian government can make a significant impact on the health of the economy. Your leadership is needed to address both the health and economic impacts of this disease.
Ovarian cancer is the most fatal women's cancer in Canada. Thousands of Canadian women are living with ovarian cancer now, and five women die every day because of it. There is no screening test, no vaccine, and all Canadian women are at risk. It is too often diagnosed in its latest stages.
For those with ovarian cancer, there are few treatment options. Surgery and chemotherapy—the primary treatments—are rarely effective over time. New publicly available treatments have been few since the 1990s. Up to 75% of women will have a recurrence of their disease, and when that happens, the treatments are focused on symptom management, not a cure.
While there have been slight shifts in disease outcomes, overall outcomes have not changed significantly for this disease in 50 years. Of all women diagnosed today, 56% will not be living in five years. To give you a sense of comparison, the five-year mortality rate for breast cancer is 13%. For prostate cancer, it's 5%. Ovarian cancer sits stubbornly at 56%, four times the mortality rate of breast cancer.
Why has ovarian cancer not seen the advances that cancers like breast and prostate cancer have seen? We simply haven't invested in fighting ovarian cancer the way we have with breast and prostate cancers. Not that long ago, those cancers too had very high mortality rates. However, they've seen significant investments in research and corresponding improvements in outcomes. The investment in breast cancer research between 2010 and 2014 was almost five times the investment in ovarian cancer.
Why has ovarian cancer research not seen this investment? There are unique elements of the disease that haven't allowed it to fit into the existing research funding framework. For instance, the low incidence of ovarian cancer cannot demonstrate the needed economic benefit, and it also impacts the ability to accrue for clinical trials. The disease has not been fatal enough or rare enough to align with the funding available. Research models for ovarian cancer are needed, and funding for models in general is very scarce. Funding for targeted drugs that have proven effective is low.
The assumption is often made that a general investment in ovarian cancer research will impact progress in ovarian cancer. Sadly, this is not the case. There are unique features of this disease. For example, ovarian cancer metastasises completely differently from other cancers, so general investments have not translated into real progress in ovarian cancer.
Ovarian Cancer Canada has taken a leadership role, helping to build capacity and increase funds available for research, and also to increase the number of ovarian cancer researchers in Canada. In 20 years, our organization has invested over $6 million, played a key role in establishing Canada's national research conference, partnered with CIHR and others to increase grant availability, established national tissue banks, and funded capacity grants for new scientists. However, the investment needed to advance knowledge of ovarian cancer is beyond the capacity of our organization.
Unlike other organizations in cancer that turn to their survivors for support, we cannot rely on our survivor community for funding because, sadly, so many do not survive. This is where the government can step in and help to change the lives of women in Canada. Ovarian Cancer Canada has worked closely with the research community, which has identified priority areas for investment to make a difference in this disease within 10 to 15 years. The research community is ready and poised to deliver on these priorities.
The investment required from the federal government to advance this research framework is $10 million. Ovarian Cancer Canada will work in partnership with Canadian research funding partners who are committed to working with us to implement the research funding quickly. With this limited investment, the Canadian government can impact a healthy Canadian economy and women's health. We know the cost of cancer care places a heavy burden on the health care system and the economy, costing the Canadian economy an estimated $626.5 billion in direct health care costs, corporate profits, and taxation revenues, and $543 billion in wage-based productivity.
This investment is completely consistent with “Investing in Canada's future: strengthening the foundations of Canadian research”, which was a report completed last spring for the federal Minister of Science. This will position Canada as a world leader in addressing this orphan cancer, bringing innovation and capacity that will have an impact on women around the globe.
Thank you for your time.