Every cancer treatment we have today was developed and tested in a clinical trial. Keep reading to learn more about innovative Canadian Cancer Society (CCS)-funded clinical trials, and how they have made an impact for people facing cancer.
How have clinical trials changed the way we understand cancer?
For more than 40 years, CCS has funded high-impact cancer clinical trials across Canada to transform the future of cancer.
And in that time, there have been many groundbreaking discoveries that have shaped how we understand and treat cancer to save more lives, including:
1994
A life-saving clinical trial discovers that chemotherapy after surgery significantly increases the survival rate for people facing the most common type of lung cancer – revolutionizing lung cancer treatment worldwide.
2003
An important clinical trial finds that women with breast cancer who take a specific drug combination have a greatly reduced risk of the cancer returning, changing the way breast cancer is treated not just in Canada, but around the world.
2017
An innovative clinical trial shows that adding a drug and shortening the course of radiation therapy, and then continuing monthly maintenance doses of the medication, significantly improves the survival rate of elderly people facing glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
2025
A world-first clinical trial shows that people with colon cancer whose treatment included a structured physical activity program had a 28% lower risk of cancer returning or a new cancer developing, and a 37% lower risk of death from colon cancer.
Last year, almost 4,000 people received access to life-changing CCS-funded clinical trials and CCS fuelled 119 clinical trials across the country.
Learn more about CCS’s research impact.