B.C. man calls for federal government to cover costly, life-saving cancer treatment

After battling advanced prostate cancer for a decade, Jim Larson said his doctor recommended he try a new treatment.

Pluvicto is the brand name for a treatment that kills cancer cells with the radioactive isotope lutetium-177.

Pharmaceutical company Novartis offers the treatment at $27,000 per dose — putting the average five-dose treatment at $135,000.

"I was all ready to go. We were excited," he said. "But there's no money now to pay for the drug from the government. And without that, it's not going to go anywhere."

Earlier this month, the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA) — which negotiates drug prices for provincial, territorial and federal public health plans — ended talks with Novartis, even though the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health recommends provinces cover Pluvicto treatments.

Now, hundreds of eligible patients will need to pay thousands of dollars to access the treatment. Larson is calling for pCPA and Novartis to get back to the table and for the federal government to cover Pluvicto for eligible patients. 

"If this doesn't happen within the next few months, we're going to start to lose people," he said. "People are going to die."

According to the B.C. Cancer Agency, about 3,500 British Columbians are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, and in 2021 alone, 705 people died from the disease.

Pluvicto is one of the few lutetium-177 cancer treatments approved in Canada. 

The compound is injected intravenously and circulates around a patient's body until it encounters a prostate cancer cell.

Then, it attaches itself to the cell before it disintegrates, emitting a beta particle which shreds DNA in the nucleus of the cancer cell — usually killing it. 

Dr. Philip Cohen, a Metro Vancouver-based nuclear medicine researcher, said the treatment sometimes targets salivary glands and tear ducts, leaving patients with a dry mouth.

He said patients often show less severe side effects compared to chemotherapy, which can leave patients feeling nauseous and tired. 

He said Pluvicto is one of about 20 new compounds reaching Canada's drug approval process that aim to treat cancer in a similar way.