Thank you very much for the invitation to make a presentation to the Standing Committee on Health. I'm participating today as a representative from Cancer Care Ontario, and I currently hold the position of director of provincial drug reimbursement programs at Cancer Care Ontario.
Cancer Care Ontario is an independent government agency that's responsible for planning cancer services, developing and implementing quality standards and practise guidelines, as well as reporting on cancer system performance to the public and clinical and administrative leaders. We also act as the chief advisor to the minister in Ontario on all issues related to cancer.
In my presentation today I plan to describe the drug approval process for oncology drugs in Ontario, our experience to date with the CDR, and the challenges that we have with respect to evaluating cancer drugs for funding. In addition, I'll provide you with some information concerning the newly established joint oncology drug review, or JODR. Please keep in mind that the JODR is a provincial-territorial initiative being led by the Manitoba and Saskatchewan governments and that Cancer Care Ontario is a participant in that initiative.