Executive Summary:

The treatment landscape for cancer has evolved significantly over the past few decades, with a shift towards personalized healthcare for individual patients. Cancer therapies are now being developed based on key molecular drivers within the genomic profile of individual tumours. Despite these advancements, patients today still suffer from the one-size-fits-all approach to treatment, lacking access to advanced diagnostics and being subjected to sequential rounds of therapy that may or may not be successful.  It is essential to ensure the patients can access the right treatments at the right time, using the tools that are now available, and thus give cancer patients their best chance at a healthy life and lead to improved patient outcomes

To capitalize on innovation, equitable access to advanced diagnostic testing and innovative therapies is crucial. This means access regardless of location, age, disability, income, or any other factors. 

The BEAT Cancer Coalition recommends that governments enable equitable access to the appropriate advanced molecular diagnostic testing through comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP), for all cancer patients across Canada, to give them the best chance at a long and healthy life.