One of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world decided to mark World Cancer Day, February 4, with a significant monetary contribution towards finding new ways to combat the deadly disease.
On Wednesday, Merck Canada announced that is donating $7.5-million to the
Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC).
The SGC, which is based in the MaRS Discovery District, is a not-for-profit public-private partnership led by the University of Toronto and Oxford University. Its main goal is to promote medical breakthroughs by creating a database of open sourced research that can be accessed by almost any organization or company.
Not to be outdone, the Government of Ontario also announced a significant investment on the same day. The provincial government said it will give the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) a four-year, $6.4-million grant to research new ways in which to increase screening rates for colon cancer and to decrease the harm chemotherapy inflicts upon patients, among other things.
To date the provincial government has invested $756.9-million toward cancer research.
“Ontario is proud to support the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, which is working with key partners on ground-breaking research that is leading to very real benefits for Ontarians fighting cancer,” said Reza Moridi, Ontario's minister of research and innovation, in the press release that followed the announcement. “This investment will help the OICR get their discoveries out of the lab faster, improving both prevention and treatment and making a difference in people’s lives.”
Not a bad day in the fight against cancer.
Source: MaRS and University of Toronto.
Photo: Courtesy of CNW Group/Merck