As I am sure you can appreciate from the work your committee has already done to date, the hallmarks of a successful moon shot program include building cross-disciplinary teams of thought leaders, creating a nimble, independent decision-making body that manages a portfolio of innovative projects with clearly defined deliverables, and providing transformative and multi-year funding.
With these concepts in mind, in 2015 we created BioCanRx, a network of centres of excellence to develop, test and provide Canadian cancer patients novel and effective treatments for cancer. Our focus was on the burgeoning field of immunotherapy, which uses strategies to train a patient's own immune system to recognize the cancerous form and destroy cancers within their body. We built upon the world-class science being developed in Canada and the existing Canadian infrastructure to build an innovative research program, moving a portfolio of Canadian discoveries into products that can be provided to Canadian patients in need.
The BioCanRx translational research engine is nimble and able to respond to discoveries made around the world in the fast-moving field of cancer immunotherapy. One example is the development of personalized engineered immune cells, or so-called CAR T cells. In 2017, BioCanRx started a cross-country, made-in-Canada CAR T program. By 2019, we were treating Canadian cancer patients who otherwise would have no access to this innovative cancer treatment.
With her permission, I want to tell you the story of Camille Leahy, a 37-year-old single mother in Newmarket, Ontario. She was diagnosed with leukemia at the beginning of the pandemic. She received an aggressive chemotherapy regimen that failed her, followed by a gruelling stem cell transplant that also failed her. She was essentially at the end of life with no other therapeutic options available to her. Camille enrolled in our BioCanRx-sponsored, made-in-Canada CAR T trial and is alive and well today and able to enjoy life with her 14-year-old daughter.
There are many more Canadians like Camille who are thankfully to still be with us today because of the transformative work BioCanRx has done.
With the sunsetting of the networks of centres of excellence program and the rapidly approaching end of our runway in March 2023, we are extremely concerned that we will no longer be able to support the preclinical to clinical development at the pace and cost required to rapidly advance technologies for those who need them the most—Canadian cancer patients. We urge the government to consider funding organizations that have a demonstrated track record in addressing an unmet, real-world need in Canada. BioCanRx is a current-day successful implementation of the government's biomanufacturing and life sciences strategy for the development of cancer immunotherapies. I would argue it is a great model for building a Canadian moon shot program.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.