Principal Investigators: Kelvin Chan; Sunnybrook Research Institute, University of Toronto;
Stuart Peacock; BC cancer;
Anca Prica; University Health Network;
Pierre Villeneuve; The Ottawa Hospital;
Amaris Balitsky; Hamilton Health Sciences Centre;
William Wong; University of Waterloo
Co-Investigators: Hannah Cherniawsky, M Cheung, N Kekre, L Masucci, T Kouroukis, L Mozessohn, C Bredeson
Funding Source: BIOTHERAPEUTICS FOR CANCER TREATMENT (BioCanRx)
Project Launch: October, 2026
Project Statement:
To assess the real-world impact of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy on health-related quality of life, work productivity, and financial burden, including out-of-pocket costs and productivity losses.
Project Overview:
CAR T-cell therapy is a personalized treatment that offers the potential to cure certain cancers. Although CAR T-cell therapy has demonstrated promising survival benefits, evidence regarding its impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), work productivity, and the ability of patients and their caregivers to return to work remains limited. This is the first non-industry funded, multi-centre study, which is enrolling participants from four tertiary oncology centres across Canada, including Vancouver, Hamilton, Toronto, and Ottawa. This study measures the patient burden of CAR T-cell therapy in terms of HRQoL, workplace productivity and costs to patients and families in a real-world clinical practice setting. The findings will help inform healthcare policy and decision-making in Canada. Our findings will also be of interest internationally given the recent global growth in the use of these therapies.
Staff: