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Pfizer partners in pursuit of Personalized Cancer Medicine
T
o continually raise the bar in cancer care,
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre needs
to partner with organizations that have
similar goals. Pfizer is one of those partners.
In 2012, The Princess Margaret launched the
IMPACT and COMPACT clinical trials to test
the use of genetic sequencing in matching
patients with advanced disease to drugs
that are specifically designed to target the
mutation(s) identified in their tumours’
genetic profiles. Pfizer Canada is providing
funding of $1 million over the next four years
to support the genetic sequencing program.
“
We’re very grateful to Pfizer for their financial
support,” says Dr. Suzanne Kamel-Reid, Head
of Clinical Laboratory Genetics and Director,
Molecular Diagnostics at Princess Margaret
Cancer Centre. “Like us, Pfizer sees the
potential of genetic sequencing in moving us
to a place where targeted therapies can be
matched precisely to the patients most likely
to respond to those therapies.”
T
he funds provided by Pfizer Canada will be
used to hire additional staff, train current staff
in the use and understanding of this new
diagnostic tool, and improve procedures so
that higher volumes of genetic sequencing
can be performed with even greater accuracy.
Dr. Martine Hubert, Director - Medical Affairs, Oncology - Canada, Pfizer Canada Inc.,
with Dr. Suzanne Kamel-Reid