New website raises awareness about available cancer clinical trials

Chemotherapy is administered to a cancer patient via intravenous drip at Duke Cancer Center in Durham, N.C., on September 5, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Gerry Broome

Canadians now have access to a public listing of active cancer clinical trials across the country, a resource that’s long existed in the United States and Europe.

The Canadian Cancer Society announced the launch of a website called Cancer Trials Canada on Monday. The site is entirely bilingual and was created in collaboration with the Quebec–Clinical Research Organization in Cancer to make academic and pharmaceutical-led trials more accessible to patients, the cancer society said.

Dr. Denis Soulières, a hematologist and medical oncologist, said similar databases do exist in Canada but to date all have been aimed at the medical community, making this the first created for the general population.

“The dissemination of information about clinical trials is something that’s been lacking,” said Soulières, also a spokesperson for the national cancer society. “There’s clearly a need that’s been expressed by the public.”

A recent survey conducted by the Angus Reid Institute in collaboration with the cancer society indicated that while many Canadians support expanding access to clinical trials for cancer patients, many also reported not knowing much about them.

It found 90 per cent of respondents support expanding access to clinical trials for cancer patients. The majority, 56 per cent, meanwhile said they didn’t know much about them, while 36 per cent said they didn’t know anything at all about them.

Many respondents also expressed concerns over how a clinical trial could potentially harm them, with 74 per cent of respondents saying concerns about side-effects would make them hesitant to take part if they were diagnosed with cancer. A large majority, 66 per cent, said a lack of trust in unproven treatments might also dissuade them.

Just over 2,000 Canadians participated in the online poll conducted this January. The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

The newly announced website also provides resources to educate the public about how clinical trials operate and the potential risks and benefits involved.

“Unfortunately, we still have many types of cancer where the needs are significant, that’s to say the treatments that are currently available are not very effective,” Soulières said.

“This leads many people to look for information about different treatment options, and clearly, different treatment options can only come about when they are developed in the context of clinical trials.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 10, 2025

Jean-Benoit Legault, The Canadian Press