Declare pancreatic cancer priority
Petitioners ask the Government of Canada to declare pancreatic cancer a national priority and enact reimbursed national guidelines, increase research funding, cover trial travel costs, and strengthen pCPA oversight and trial modernization. The government responds that Health Canada is modernizing clinical-trial regulations, CIHR funds pancreatic research and the pCPA is improving negotiation timelines.
Why we would sign this petition
- Creates consistent national standards for somatic testing and clinical trials, giving oncologists clear guidance and patients more uniform access to precision care.
- Elevating pancreatic cancer to a national priority with increased research funding could accelerate early detection and trials that may improve survival.
- Covering travel costs and supporting trial modernization reduces geographic and financial barriers, improving participation from rural and underserved regions.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- Would require substantial federal spending and entail trade-offs with other health and budget priorities.
- Coordinating national guidelines and trial infrastructure across provinces is complex and risks duplication or conflict with existing modernization efforts.
- Strengthening pCPA oversight and mandated reimbursement could clash with provincial drug-plan authority and complicate established negotiation processes.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
Petition to the House of Commons Molecular medicine clinical trials are limited to Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, and Alberta; Lack of national guidelines prevents oncologists from consistently recommending somatic testing or clinical trials for pancreatic cancer; Canada’s pancreatic cancer five-year survival rate remains at 10%, demonstrating an urgent need for improved care; PanCAN previously provided Canadians free molecular profiling through the “Know Your Tumor” program, yet no equivalent government-supported program exists; The U.S. Precision Medicine Initiative shows adaptive trials and widespread biomarker testing significantly enhance patient outcomes — practices Canada has not fully adopted; Financial and geographic barriers limit trial access for Canadians outside major cities due to unsupported travel and accommodation expenses; Health Canada’s clinical trial modernization and CRAFT frameworks require substantial additional support; Insufficient funding in pancreatic cancer including early detection prevents major improvements in patient survival; and Without national priority designation, Canada’s fragmented approach neglects integration of clinical trials and biomarker testing into standard care. We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to: 1. Declare pancreatic cancer a national priority for coordinated and comprehensive action; 2. Establish national guidelines on somatic testing, clinical trials and palliative care with clear reimbursement; 3. Commit to diversified and increased funding for pancreatic cancer research, particularly early detection, trial infrastructure, and equitable support for underserved regions; 4. Ensure equitable trial access by covering patient and caregiver travel costs through partnerships with airlines, hotels, and transportation providers; 5. Increase oversight of pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance approval processes with transparent procedures and firm deadlines; and 6. Expand support for Health Canada’s clinical trial modernization and CRAFT frameworks, emphasizing rural and underserved regions.
Government response
Response by the Minister of Health Signed by Maggie Chi Cancer touches nearly every family in Canada. It is the leading cause of death in this country, and it costs patients, families, and health care systems nearly $40 billion every year. That is why our Government recognizes the importance of modernizing the clinical trials regulatory framework to improve access to clinical research for Canadians living with serious health conditions, including pancreatic cancer. Through Health Canada’s Clinical Trials Modernization Initiative, our government is advancing efforts to create a more flexible, risk-based and patient-centered clinical trials framework. This work aims to support the development of innovative therapies and help ensure that patients with urgent medical needs can benefit from the latest research advancements. A key objective of this work is to support broader and more equitable participation in clinical trials for people living in Canada, including individuals in rural, remote and underserved regions. Specifically, the proposed framework emphasizes inclusive clinical trial approaches, including enabling decentralized trial elements and supporting better representation of populations that have historically been underrepresented in clinical research. This framework supports innovation and improves patient access to potentially lifesaving treatments, including those for people living with pancreatic cancer. As part of this initiative, Health Canada launched a 90-day public consultation on the proposed Clinical Trials Regulations and associated guidance documents on December 20, 2025. In addition, on September 8, 2025, Health Canada published a report that includes actions the department is taking towards modernizing regulatory processes to reduce red tape in the health products sector. These actions support our Government’s commitment to eliminating outdated or overly complicated rules and processes and streamlining the delivery of regulatory decisions. Specific to drugs, the department has committed to increasing access through enhanced international collaboration, alignment, and reliance, simplifying the Food and Drug Regulations, addressing stakeholder-identified burdens to support faster approvals, and modernizing the framework for clinical trials. Health Canada continues to work with industry, health system partners, researchers and patients to strengthen Canada’s clinical trials ecosystem, including for patients affected by pancreatic cancer and other serious health conditions. Feedback received through the public consultation will help inform the final regulations and ongoing efforts to improve equitable access to clinical trials for Canadians. As for pancreatic cancer research, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canada's federal funding agency for health research, invested over $1.1 billion in cancer research between 2020-21 and 2024-25, which includes $34 million invested in pancreatic cancer. This research spans early detection, clinical trials, and novel therapeutic discovery. As one example, CIHR is investing $1.1 million in research led by Dr. Franco Vizeacoumar and his team at the University of Saskatchewan, who are working to develop a novel approach for treating pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, which has limited treatment options. CIHR is also investing in a Canada Research Chair focussed on Pancreatic Cancer and Cancer Evolution held by Dr. Faiyaz Notta at the University of Toronto. Dr. Notta aims to increase the survival rates of patients with pancreatic cancer by unravelling the underlying biology that drives the evolution of the disease—from the time of initial diagnosis to the advanced stages. In addition, CIHR recently announced a $41 million investment in cancer prevention, which will support 19 teams to develop and share new approaches that advance cancer prevention, reduce cancer risk, and improve early detection for some of the most diagnosed cancers in Canada and the world, including pancreatic cancer. As for the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA), its mandate is to conduct collective, expert-informed negotiations on behalf of participating public drug plans with the objectives of: Increasing access to clinically relevant and cost-effective treatments; Achieving consistent and lower drug costs; Improving consistency in funding decisions; and Reducing duplication and optimizing resource utilization. The pCPA is an independent organization whose member jurisdictions include the public drug plans of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, as well as federal drug plans administered by Indigenous Services Canada’s Non-Insured Health Benefits Program, Correctional Service Canada, Veterans Affairs Canada, and the Department of National Defence. These participating jurisdictions are represented on the pCPA’s Board of Directors, which is responsible for governance functions, engaging in knowledge sharing on jurisdictional priorities and system issues, and identifying and directing initiatives that require collective leadership and action. The pCPA has committed to improving its negotiation capacity and timelines in response to the increasing volume and complexity of drug price negotiations. Since 2020, their total negotiation times have improved significantly from 11 months to 6.5 months, a 41% decrease. In addition, the pCPA is working on new approaches to their negotiation processes with the goal of supporting timely public drug coverage for Canadian patients. For example, in December 2025, the pCPA introduced two expedited negotiation pathways to improve timeliness and predictability: Early Negotiation Process (ENP): An expedited pathway for select cancer drugs approved through Project Orbis, with the goal of completing negotiations within three to four months, in parallel with the final HTA recommendation. Targeted Negotiation Process (TNP): A streamlined pathway for non-complex negotiations, including drugs comparable to existing therapies. It is important to clarify that the pCPA does not make final reimbursement decisions on behalf of participating public drug plans. Public drug plans are responsible for making the final decision on whether to cover a drug and must establish individual product listing agreements with the drug manufacturer. In Canada there are two health technology assessment organizations which review the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a drug product; Canada's Drug Agency (CDA-AMC) and in Québec, l’Institut national d’excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS). The CDA-AMC and INESSS provide recommendations on whether a drug should be reimbursed, in consideration of cost-effectiveness and other key factors. The pCPA then considers these recommendations and other factors to determine whether it will enter into price negotiations with a manufacturer to support public coverage of a drug. Following a successful negotiation, the pCPA will issue a Letter of Intent (LOI) which sets initial terms between the pCPA and the drug manufacturer.