91快色

March 21, 2025

U91快色 researchers among network receiving $5 million for new cancer research program

Canadian Cancer Society grant to study benefits of psychedelics for late-stage cancer
Co-principal investigator Linda Carlson
Co-principal investigator Linda Carlson Courtesy Linda Carlson

U91快色 cancer researcher PhD, has been named co-principal investigator of a new cancer research program investigating the benefits of psychedelics for participants experiencing late-stage cancer.

Carlson will co-lead CAN-PACT (Canadian Network for Psychedelic-Assisted Cancer Therapy), a Canadian research group evaluating the efficacy of psychedelics for alleviating suffering, managing symptoms like anxiety or depression and improving quality of life. More than $5 million in funding is being provided by the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) Breakthrough Team Grants, with support contributed by Brain Canada. 

鈥淭he CAN-PACT research program has the potential to be transformative, providing us with an opportunity to better understand the efficacy of psychedelic-assisted cancer therapy and establish research evidence that has nationwide reach,鈥 says Carlson.

She says the program will bring together people living with cancer and their caregivers, health-care providers, researchers and policymakers over the next five years. They aim to train more psychosocial and palliative care clinicians to deliver psychedelic-assisted therapies for cancer treatment to improve access for those in need, assess the efficacy through a multi-site randomized controlled clinical trial, and engage policymakers in the necessary regulatory changes to increase access.

鈥淯ltimately, our vision is to increase the available treatment options for individuals with advanced cancer and offer them, and their caregivers, relief from existential suffering," she says.

Researchers

Harriet Richardson, Ronald Shore

Courtesy Queen's University

Drs. Ronald Shore, PhD, and Harriet Richardson, PhD, of Queen鈥檚 University are co-principal investigators. U91快色 research collaborators in CAN-PACT include Drs. Simon Colgan, MD, Lyle Galloway, MD, Jessica Simon, MD as well as trainees Dr. Julie Deleemans, PhD鈥22, Haley Schuman and Jamie Petersson. The team consists or researchers from British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick.

The research in 91快色 will take place in the integrative oncology space of the new the Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

Late-stage cancer is defined as being in Stage 3 or 4 of disease, meaning cancer has spread beyond the initial site, either locally or to other organs throughout the body. The CCS estimates 40 per cent of cancer cases being treated in Canada are in Stages 3 or 4. Cancer remains the leading cause of death in Canada, with nearly 240,000 new diagnoses and an estimated 87,000 deaths in 2023 alone.

CCS has been a longstanding U91快色 partner and supporter of its cancer research for more than three decades.

Psychedelic-assisted cancer therapy explained

The Canadian Cancer Society speaks to Dr. Linda Carlson at the 91快色 who has been announced as a selected project for the Breakthrough Team Grants.

Canadian Cancer Society

Linda Carlson, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Oncology at the C and adjunct professor in the Department of Psychology, She has held the Enbridge Research Chair in Psychosocial Oncology since 2007 and is a member of the at the CSM.