NATIONAL PULSE – Nearly all Canadians support increase to clinical cancer trials
(Image: allinonemovie/ Pixabay.com)
Most see it as a way to access novel cancer treatments, offer last hope for patients who are out of options
By ANGUS REID INSTITUTE
October 14, 2025 – New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute in partnership with the Canadian Cancer Society finds nine-in-ten Canadians support increasing access to clinical trials for cancer patients. This comes as most believe these sorts of experimental treatments offer new medicine otherwise unavailable to most cancer patients (80% agree).
Clinical trials are carefully designed to have as few risks and as many benefits as possible for everyone who takes part. They are approved by a research ethics board and Health Canada reviews the clinical trials protocol. Despite this, Canadians remain concerned of the potential risks that they may pose. Two-thirds (67%) believe clinical trials may have bad side effects, while many who say they would be hesitant to enrol in a clinical trial were they diagnosed with cancer say their hesitation comes from the potential side effects (74%) and distrust of unproven treatments (66%).
Experience and knowledge with clinical trials is uncommon among Canadians. A majority (56%) say they’ve heard of them but don’t know much about it, while one-third (36%) say they know nothing at all about them. One-in-12 (7%) say they know a lot about them, while one per cent have participated in one themselves.
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