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Chances are you know someone who’s been diagnosed with cancer. An estimated 200,000 Canadians will find out they have cancer this year alone, and one in two Canadians is expected to develop cancer in their lifetime. While the numbers are daunting, a series of novel treatments are providing new reasons for hope. Researchers are developing more advanced ways to fight cancer, providing new options—and better futures—for patients.

“What we’re seeing now is that companies are innovating to make new therapies available to treat cancer in ways that are having a tremendous impact,” says Winselow Tucker, Oncology General Manager at one of Canada’s research based pharmaceutical companies. “Strong innovation and research are making a major difference in how people are living with, and battling, cancer. We have the potential to make an impact in ways we weren’t able to in the past.”

When chemotherapy was first introduced in the 1950s, it was revolutionary and life-saving. For many decades, chemotherapy, radiation and surgery were the three standard cancer treatments that doctors could offer patients. Then, about 15 years ago, targeted therapies changed the landscape of cancer medicine. Unlike standard chemotherapy that affects all cells in the body, targeted therapies work by seeking out specific genes or proteins.