Victoria’s world-renowned immunotherapy expert, Dr. Brad Nelson, remembers stepping into the new BC Cancer building at Royal Jubilee Hospital in 2003, ready to embark on a bold new mission.
“It was a blank canvas,” he recalls of the empty research floor – “an amazing, pioneering opportunity.”
Fast forward 22 years, and that opportunity has blossomed into one of cancer research's latest, greatest success stories, placing Victoria on the map of cutting-edge new immunotherapy research.
On June 26, the BC Cancer Foundation announced that Dr. Brad Nelson will become the inaugural Lynda and Murray Farmer Immunotherapy Research Chair — a newly created position that marks a major milestone and empowers the research centre to pursue even more ambitious breakthroughs.
Longtime supporters Lynda and Murray Farmer established the position through a $2 million donation.
Nelson, recruited from the University of Washington two decades ago to become the founding director of BC Cancer's new Deeley Research Centre in 2003, expressed his gratitude for their support.
"I am so touched by the fact that you have dared to believe for over 20 years now, and are making this major investment and putting your name, which is so well- recognized and so well-respected in our community, putting that behind our work and our team and our vision."
BC Cancer's groundbreaking immunotherapy research program includes the 2019 Canadian-led Immunotherapies in Cancer (CLIC) series of clinical trials in partnership with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.
The focus is CAR-T cell therapy, a personalized cancer treatment that reprograms a patient's own immune cells to recognize and attack cancer cells through genetic engineering.
Results from their first CAR-T trial, CLIC-01, showed a 43 per cent complete response rate in participants with leukemia and lymphoma.
The second trial, now underway, includes pediatric patients, and a third trial will target the deadliest solid tumours, such as ovarian and pancreatic cancers.
To date, Nelson said 95 patients have been treated through trials.
"There are now seven clinics in Canada that will be delivering our product, made right here in Victoria, to patients," Nelson said.
The position – the foundation's first immunotherapy research chair – ensures that in each trial, they can "use creativity, boldness, risk-taking, our very best ideas, learning as much as we can from each patient," Nelson said. It provides dedicated funding and long-term stability, enabling the team to attract and mentor top scientific talent, expand access to clinical trials across B.C., and leverage donor funds to secure grants and partnerships.
Once phase two of the trial is completed, Nelson said the team will seek approval from Health Canada so that the treatment can become a market-authorized product produced in B.C.
Earlier this year, BC Cancer Foundation launched a $6.8 million fundraising campaign for the program, and Sarah Roth, president and CEO of BC Cancer Foundation, announced June 26 that they had surpassed that goal at $7.5 million.
"This year, we surpassed $100 million [in donations] for the first time in the foundation's history, and I share that because that is a message for you of trust," Roth told the BC Cancer Foundation-Victoria team on June 26. "Over 80,000 British Columbians believe in the work that you do across the province and here on the Island."
Lynda Farmer recalled her involvement in the Daring to Believe campaign over 20 years ago, and the public skepticism at the time that research could make a difference. Fast forward to eight years ago, and the progress was palpable. "We knew that it was making a huge difference. Remarkable achievements had been achieved ... so I began to form a really exciting appreciation," she said.
Nelson added that immunotherapy was "very much a fringe area of cancer research" when he first came to Victoria.
The moment that "cemented" his belief that it could work was the first mouse experiment with T-cell therapy against a breast cancer model – the tumour “completely regressed.
Now, he has hope that the team can tackle the tough challenge of solid tumours in the third trial.
"Solid tumors are globally still a barrier that nobody has effectively crossed, so with your gift and your creation of this position, we're gonna be able to do it. We're gonna get there, I have no doubt," he said, addressing the Farmers.
"If we look back at what's happened, not only here, but globally in the immunotherapy space over the last 20 years, one can only imagine what the next 10 or 20 hold for the field."
To learn more or support the campaign, visit: bccancerfoundation.com/immunotherapy.
