Ontario funding new treatment for advanced-stage prostate cancer

Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones listens to questions from reporters following a press conference in Etobicoke, Ont., Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin

TORONTO — Ontario's health minister says the province will now publicly fund a new treatment for advanced-stage prostate cancer.

Health Canada approved Pluvicto in August 2022, but patients have been waiting since then for provincial health plans to announce coverage.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones says Ontario is the first Canadian jurisdiction to publicly fund and administer the treatment.

Ontario says it is working with hospitals to implement Pluvicto as a standard treatment for patients with advanced-stage prostate cancer and it is expected to be available to eligible patients at most of the province's cancer treatment centres in the next few months.

Pluvicto is a targeted radioligand therapy, a radioactive drug that kills the specific cancer cells, and uses a medical isotope that is produced in Ontario.

Experts say radioligand therapy has lower side-effects than traditional radiation because it minimizes harm to healthy cells.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 14, 2025.

The Canadian Press