Innovative therapies such as targeted drugs, proton beam therapy, and cellular therapy continue to expand their uses in pediatric oncology, yet many novel therapies are still high-cost and not currently publicly funded despite compelling evidence for their use. For this reason, in Canada’s publicly funded and provincially administered healthcare system, access to novel cancer-directed therapies is often inequitable.

Currently, clinical data regarding novel therapies are first submitted to Health Canada for regulatory approval for sale and marketing. Concurrently, a submission to Canada’s Drug Agency can be made to review the therapy and make recommendations on reimbursement to federal, provincial, and territorial drug plans (except in Quebec, in which the National Institute of Excellence in Health and Social Services provides these assessments). However, as provinces and territories differ in their funding review processes, this often results in differing degrees of reimbursement for novel therapies across jurisdictions.

This project aims to survey healthcare providers at Canadian institutions to explore access and barriers for children in Canada to innovative cancer therapies. Understanding the inequities in access and the barriers to the access will help inform health policy infrastructure changes and ultimately improve access to novel therapies for all children in Canada.

In the survey, therapies that serve as case studies were selected based on the presence of compelling evidence to support their use and potential for impact on pediatric oncology patients in Canada. Moreover, these therapies have not undergone approval by Health Canada or health technology assessment in Canada for the indications in question, despite clinical evidence supporting their use.

Leveraging the pan-Canadian ACCESS network, the survey has been distributed to pediatric oncologists, radiation oncologists, pediatric oncology pharmacists, drug access facilitators, hematopoietic stem cell transplant and cellular therapy physicians, and pediatric oncology nurse practitioners.

Upon the completion of this study, the results will be shared with relevant stakeholders in pediatric oncology, including the ACCESS network, to then identify specific health policy efforts that can be addressed to improve access for patients with pediatric cancer in Canada.