Ontario to speed up access to select cancer drugs in new pilot

Ontario says it will speed up the lengthy approval process for select cancer drugs by up to one year as part of a new pilot project.

Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced the three-year fast-track program at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto.

Jones says seven to 10 high-priority cancer drugs that are approved by Health Canada through Project Orbis will be expedited in each year of the pilot.

The federal government joined Project Orbis, an international initiative launched in 2019, to get patients promising cancer treatments sooner.

The Ontario Ministry of Health says it takes about two years in Canada for a newly approved drug to reach a patient, a year longer than in other developed countries.

Jones says the province will start the process of publicly funding select