In Canada, an estimated 25,900 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2023, making it the most common type of cancer affecting men. An estimated one in eight Canadian men will develop it in their lifetime, and one in 30 will die of it.
Prostate cancers vary in risk. Some are aggressive and lethal, requiring invasive treatments that often yield life-altering side effects, while others are indolent, meaning treatment may not even be necessary. Differentiating aggressive cases from indolent ones early on is essential to providing treatment alternatives that are effective and that don’t have an unnecessary impact on a patient’s quality of life.
High prevalence rates, a relative inability to differentiate aggressive cancers from indolent ones early on, and limitations in the treatment of aggressive tumours make prostate cancer a pressing health issue in Canada.
Our Research Strategy
Given these challenges, the Terry Fox Research Institute has embarked on a multi-pronged strategy to fund the best prostate cancer scientific teams and programs in the country.
In 2022/2023, roughly 9 per cent of the money invested by the TFRI supported prostate cancer research. This added up to a total investment of $1.2 million.*
To allocate its resources, the Institute has international experts evaluate the excellence and the potential for impact of all its research projects. This approach distinguishes our research investment strategy from all others in Canada and allows donors to be confident that their investment is supporting the top 5% of Canadian researchers and their science.
*Our scientific discovery projects are interdisciplinary by design and often focus on more than one cancer type. The figures listed above are an estimate and should not be taken as exact figures.