Cancer is the leading cause of death in Canada.
LSTN (Life-Saving Therapies Network) is a patient-led international network of oncologists, researchers, regulators, medical ethicists, health economists and others from North America and the EU. Our mission is to enable patients with lethal diseases to have faster access to better therapies. Our initiatives are evidence-based and supported by a cross section of key players in the healthcare system internationally.
IT CAN TAKE 12 YEARS TO BRING A DRUG TO THE MARKET.
Even with fast-tracking, it takes more than six years to get a drug approved, and longer to make it available. This is not acceptable for people with lethal diseases.
WHEN SAFETY KILLS.
Clinical trials are required for drug approval. However, in the case of emerging treatments for lethal diseases can be unnecessarily slowed by inappropriate research designs.
RISK HAS A DIFFERENT MEANING IF YOU’RE FACING DEATH.
On 17 June 2016, Bill C-14 legalized assisted dying in Canada. Yet lethally ill patients are routinely denied early access to promising life-extending or curative experimental therapies.
The cost of inaction is unnecessary suffering and thousands of life years lost.
Drug prices are driven up by lengthy and costly research and regulatory processes.
A study published in Cancer Medicine looked at 27 different clinical trials. It showed that reducing drug approval time to five years could saved more than 190,000 life-years if only 10% of all relevant patients were treated!