FREDERICTON - New Brunswick is increasing efforts to deal with colorectal cancer by establishing a provincewide screening program and by becoming one of the last provinces to cover the cost of Avastin, an expensive cancer drug.
Health Minister Mary Schryer made the announcement Tuesday at a gathering of the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada.
"There is no reason why we should not be detecting diseases such as colon cancer before they get worse," Schryer said.
"By making strategic investments in prevention, early detection and treatment, we are taking a stand against cancer."
The screening program will begin next year and be phased in over three years at a cost of about $3 million annually.
It is estimated 540 New Brunswickers will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year, and about 220 people in the province die annually from it.
"Canada has one of the highest rates of colorectal cancer in the world and it is the second-most common cause of cancer deaths in this country when you consider men and women together," said Dr. Jo-Anne Attard, a colorectal surgeon at the Saint John Regional Hospital.
She said the new screening program is the greatest weapon against colorectal cancer.
"If detected early, survival is greater than 90 per cent," Attard said.
Early detection is done by checking for microscopic blood in stool samples. The cancer starts as polyps, or small growths, in the colon that can be surgically removed when detected early enough.
Newfoundland and Labrador is now the only province without a screening program.
Once the patient has the cancer, drugs such as Avastin help restrict its growth.
"This definitely will result in saving many lives and prolonging those who have the disease," said Barry Stein, president of Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada.
Stein said the only other province that does not provide Avastin is Prince Edward Island, and that even in Manitoba, where there isn't official public funding of Avastin, no one who needs it is being denied it.
The drug, which is administered intravenously in hospital, is expected to cost the New Brunswick government about $3.5 million annually.
The government of Ontario has come under fire recently after imposing a cap on Avastin treatments. The province stops funding the drug after 16 two-week treatments, or about eight months.
Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin says the cap "verges on cruelty."
Stein said it doesn't make sense to take people off treatment when they are benefiting from it.
"I don't think we'll see that type of cap here in New Brunswick, and I certainly hope that won't be repeated elsewhere," said Stein, a survivor of colorectal cancer.
New Brunswick Tourism Minister Stuart Jamieson is also a survivor.
"I was told through my own pathology report that I probably had cancer for six to eight years before it was detected," Jamieson said. "Early screening would have probably helped to show it up quicker."
While details of the screening program are still being determined, Stein said it will likely start with a letter to every New Brunswicker between the ages of 50 and 74, advising them to be tested at least every two years.
