{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T01:27:26Z","timestamp":1760146046306,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,1]],"date-time":"2024-10-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1727740800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Current Oncology"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Medical oncology is a rapidly evolving field, with new medications being discovered yearly, contributing to increased survival rates. However, accessing drugs in a timely manner can be challenging. In Quebec, Canada, a physician can prescribe an unlisted anticancer treatment through a regulated pathway under exceptional circumstances. We conducted a quality improvement study describing the outcomes of incurable cancer patients receiving unlisted anticancer therapy at the Jewish General Hospital between 2018 and 2019. Though our study did not include a comparator arm, unlisted anticancer therapies were associated with interesting median progression-free survival (11 months) and overall survival (25 months). Moreover, a large proportion of treatments, 44%, were subsequently reimbursed in the province of Quebec. Given the delay in anticancer drug reimbursement, this pathway is essential for timely access to oncology drugs. Such \u2018special access\u2019 programs will likely become increasingly important as precision medicine becomes the standard of practice.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/curroncol31100440","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,1]],"date-time":"2024-10-01T07:41:49Z","timestamp":1727768509000},"page":"5908-5918","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Real-World Outcomes of Incurable Cancer Patients Treated with Unlisted Anticancer Treatments in an Academic Center in Quebec, Canada"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"31","author":[{"given":"Adam","family":"Miller","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Oncology, Queen\u2019s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Francois","family":"Panet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jewish General Hospital Segal Cancer Center, Montreal, QC H3T 1E2, Canada"},{"name":"Departments of Medicine and Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Victoria","family":"Korsos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Hematology, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC H3T 1E2, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"suffix":"Jr.","given":"Wilson H.","family":"Miller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jewish General Hospital Segal Cancer Center, Montreal, QC H3T 1E2, Canada"},{"name":"Departments of Medicine and Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gerald","family":"Batist","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jewish General Hospital Segal Cancer Center, Montreal, QC H3T 1E2, Canada"},{"name":"Departments of Medicine and Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2312","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.jmedchem.0c01516","article-title":"A Decade of FDA-Approved Drugs (2010\u20132019): Trends and Future Directions","volume":"64","author":"Brown","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Med. Chem."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1558","DOI":"10.1080\/13696998.2020.1834403","article-title":"Changes in mortality associated with cancer drug approvals in the United States from 2000 to 2016","volume":"23","author":"MacEwan","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Med. Econ."},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"5232","article-title":"Advances in cancer therapy: Clinical benefit of new cancer drugs","volume":"15","author":"Michaeli","year":"2023","journal-title":"Aging"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"981","DOI":"10.3390\/curroncol29020083","article-title":"Closing the Gaps to Timely Patient Access: Perspectives on Conditional Funding Models","volume":"29","author":"Glennie","year":"2022","journal-title":"Curr. Oncol."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Health Canada (2024, July 03). The Government of Canada Announces the Creation of the Canadian Drug Agency. Available online: https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/health-canada\/news\/2023\/12\/the-government-of-canada-announces-the-creation-of-the-canadian-drug-agency---helping-make-canadas-drug-system-more-sustainable-and-better-prepared.html."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e130","DOI":"10.1634\/theoncologist.2019-0314","article-title":"Potential Life-Years Lost: The Impact of the Cancer Drug Regulatory and Funding Process in Canada","volume":"25","author":"Gotfrit","year":"2020","journal-title":"Oncologist"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2504","DOI":"10.3390\/curroncol29040204","article-title":"Access Denied? The Unintended Consequences of Pending Drug Pricing Rules","volume":"29","author":"Kaplan","year":"2022","journal-title":"Curr. Oncol."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1997","DOI":"10.3390\/curroncol29030162","article-title":"Determinants of the Cancer Drug Funding Process in Canada","volume":"29","author":"Gotfrit","year":"2022","journal-title":"Curr. Oncol."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"195","DOI":"10.1007\/s40487-022-00187-3","article-title":"Estimating the Impact of Delayed Access to Oncology Drugs on Patient Outcomes in Canada","volume":"10","author":"Erim","year":"2022","journal-title":"Oncol. Ther."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Uyl-de Groot, C.A., Heine, R., Krol, M., and Verweij, J. (2020). Unequal Access to Newly Registered Cancer Drugs Leads to Potential Loss of Life-Years in Europe. Cancers, 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/cancers12082313"},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"(2024, June 14). International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, 3rd Edition (ICD-O-3). Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/standards\/classifications\/other-classifications\/international-classification-of-diseases-for-oncology."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"984","DOI":"10.1200\/JCO.18.00605","article-title":"First-Line Treatment of Patients With Indolent Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma or Mantle-Cell Lymphoma With Bendamustine Plus Rituximab Versus R-CHOP or R-CVP: Results of the BRIGHT 5-Year Follow-Up Study","volume":"37","author":"Flinn","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Clin. Oncol."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1480","DOI":"10.1016\/S1470-2045(18)30700-9","article-title":"Nivolumab plus ipilimumab or nivolumab alone versus ipilimumab alone in advanced melanoma (CheckMate 067): 4-year outcomes of a multicentre, randomised, phase 3 trial","volume":"19","author":"Hodi","year":"2018","journal-title":"Lancet Oncol."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"373","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2407-11-373","article-title":"Single-agent pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer: Results of an Austrian observational trial","volume":"11","author":"Fiegl","year":"2011","journal-title":"BMC Cancer"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"917","DOI":"10.1016\/S1470-2045(16)30107-3","article-title":"Cabozantinib versus everolimus in advanced renal cell carcinoma (METEOR): Final results from a randomised, open-label, phase 3 trial","volume":"17","author":"Choueiri","year":"2016","journal-title":"Lancet Oncol."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1758835919871126","DOI":"10.1177\/1758835919871126","article-title":"Real-world efficacy and safety of liposomal irinotecan plus fluorouracil\/leucovorin in patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma: A study by the Korean Cancer Study Group","volume":"11","author":"Yoo","year":"2019","journal-title":"Ther. Adv. Med. Oncol."},{"key":"ref_17","first-page":"382","article-title":"Off-label antineoplastic drugs. An effectiveness and safety study","volume":"41","year":"2017","journal-title":"Farm Hosp."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"351","DOI":"10.1158\/1940-6207.CAPR-19-0528","article-title":"Cancer Immunoprevention: A Case Report Raising the Possibility of \u201cImmuno-interception\u201d","volume":"13","author":"Mancuso","year":"2020","journal-title":"Cancer Prev. Res."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7852","DOI":"10.3390\/curroncol30090570","article-title":"Two Cases of Durable and Deep Responses to Immune Checkpoint Inhibition-Refractory Metastatic Melanoma after Addition of Camu Camu Prebiotic","volume":"30","author":"Pang","year":"2023","journal-title":"Curr. Oncol."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S258","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clml.2019.07.171","article-title":"Successful PD-1 Blockade in a Patient with Refractory EBV-Positive HIV-Related Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma","volume":"19","author":"Santiago","year":"2019","journal-title":"Clin. Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"P2-01","DOI":"10.1158\/1538-7445.SABCS22-P2-01-06","article-title":"Abstract P2-01-06: Real-world outcome and cost analysis of the addition of pertuzumab to neoadjuvant therapy in localized HER2 positive breast cancer: A single center experience","volume":"83","author":"Panet","year":"2023","journal-title":"Cancer Res."},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Health Canada (2024, June 15). Health Canada\u2019s Special Access Programs: Request a Drug. Available online: https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/health-canada\/services\/drugs-health-products\/special-access\/drugs.html."},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"(2024, June 15). Bill 15: The Quebec Government Wants to Limit the Specific Medical Necessity Measure. Available online: https:\/\/www.fasken.com\/en\/knowledge\/2023\/07\/bill-15-the-quebec-government-wants-to-limit-the-specific-medical-necessity-measure."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2453","DOI":"10.3390\/curroncol31050184","article-title":"New Anticancer Drugs: Reliably Assessing \u201cValue\u201d While Addressing High Prices","volume":"31","author":"Stewart","year":"2024","journal-title":"Curr. Oncol."}],"container-title":["Current Oncology"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1718-7729\/31\/10\/440\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T16:08:41Z","timestamp":1760112521000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1718-7729\/31\/10\/440"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,1]]},"references-count":24,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,10]]}},"alternative-id":["curroncol31100440"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/curroncol31100440","relation":{},"ISSN":["1718-7729"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1718-7729"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,1]]}}}