Expanding Clinical Cancer Trials Across B.C.
April 10, 2026
Found in Clinical Trials, General, Immunotherapy
In the past, participating in a clinical trial often meant travelling — or temporarily relocating — to a major urban cancer centre. Thanks to donor support, BC Cancer is expanding clinical trial access in the North, Island, Interior and Fraser regions, bringing promising new therapies closer to where patients live.
It’s good news for patients across the province — even if they’re not enrolled in a study, says Dr. Bernie Eigl, founder of BC Cancer’s Clinical Trial Office.
“With clinical trials available at every BC Cancer centre, staff are trained in the best standard of care and every patient benefits because the whole team is practicing at the highest level.”
Province-wide access to cancer research
BC Cancer runs one of Canada’s busiest clinical trial programs, with 10% of B.C. cancer patients enrolled in studies — made possible in large part thanks to donor investments that helped launch and sustain BC Cancer’s Provincial Clinical Trials program.
Participation is strengthened by B.C.’s unique model, where cancer centres operate as one coordinated network rather than independent institutions.
“It’s something you don’t see anywhere else in Canada,” says Dr. Eigl.
A centralized research infrastructure manages the complex administrative work behind trials — from contracts and budgets to ethics approvals — allowing clinicians across the province to focus on patient care.
The model also helps expand trials to more communities. When pharmaceutical companies limit the number of Canadian sites in international studies, BC Cancer can open a trial at one centre and extend it to others as satellite locations.
“While I might lead a study in Vancouver, colleagues in Victoria or Kelowna can also enroll patients locally — and vice versa,” explains Dr. Eigl.
New initiatives are expanding access even further. Through the Canadian Remote Access Framework for Trials (CRAFT) program, BC Cancer researchers are using virtual care and telehealth to assess and monitor patients who live far from major cancer centres.
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Donor support is helping bring cutting-edge clinical trials to patients across B.C.
Philanthropy helped launch BC Cancer’s first CAR-T trial for leukemia and lymphoma, where 43% of participants — all of whom had exhausted other treatment options — achieved complete regression.
Donors are also contributing $2.2 million to support SIMPLIFY, an international trial led at BC Cancer – Prince George and offered across all six BC Cancer centres. The study is testing a single, high-precision radiation dose designed to better target tumours, reduce side effects and improve remission rates for people with metastatic cancer.
Donor funding will also help strengthen the clinical trials system — the backbone that enables BC Cancer to open, manage and expand trials across the province — with a goal of increasing participation by 10% each year.
Extra years from innovation
Ian Angus doesn’t have to think very hard about what he would have missed without access to life-saving clinical trials at BC Cancer.
Ian Angus and his family.
“Everything,” he says of his three grandchildren — “Henry, now six; Audrey in the middle; and Sidney the youngest at just over a year old.”
Diagnosed with colon cancer in 2014 and initially given only a few years to live, Ian has since enrolled in multiple trials.
Now, over a decade later, he believes cutting-edge research is the reason he’s still here — enjoying precious time with his grandchildren.
“Trials made it possible for us to be all together.”
BC Cancer Clinical Trials by the Numbers
- 399 active trials across B.C. (as of January 2026)
- 135 new trials launched since 2024
- 178 trials currently recruiting patients
- 388 clinician investigators driving research
- 600–700 patients enrolled each year in trials testing new drugs
- 18,000 patients approached to participate in trials over the last five years
- 92% of patients offered a trial chose to participate
- 70%+ participants accessed a trial within 50 km of their home
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