The Ride to Conquer Cancer is a powerful movement—one of hope, healing, celebration, and optimism. The 2013 Ride was an outstanding success, raising $10.4 million for life-saving research and enhancements to care at the BC Cancer Agency.

Since its inception in 2009, the Ride has raised an amazing $50 million for the BC Cancer Foundation in support of cancer research in B.C. This incredible event is changing the cancer landscape and patients are benefitting from improved radiation therapy and chemotherapy because of new knowledge uncovered —all thanks to Ride dollars at work.

The BC Cancer Foundation is the fundraising partner of the BC Cancer Agency and the largest charitable funder of cancer research in this province. We support leading-edge research with the goal of finding solutions. Our goal is that over 70 per cent of the funds raised through the Ride to Conquer Cancer are invested directly into research.

You, and thousands of other cyclists, are the fuel that keeps the BC Cancer Agency’s research engine running. You are partners in discovery helping us achieve our vision of a world free from cancer.

Ride to Conquer Cancer: Your Dollars at Work

The 2014 Ride to Conquer Cancer will build on the tremendous momentum that has allowed for major advances in cancer care here in our province.

Early Detection: The earlier a cancer is detected, the better the patient’s chance of survival. The BC Cancer Agency’s researchers are world leaders in creating new technology that helps detect cancer at the earliest stages, before it becomes life threatening. New light-based devices developed at the BC Cancer Agency are allowing clinicians to uncover oral, cervical, skin, colorectal and lung cancers earlier. Already, a blue-light detection tool for oral cancer is used by dentists around the world, new imaging technology is helping doctors detect lung cancers earlier and a skin cancer detection tool has proved successful through

clinical trials and is currently in production. Ride dollars support this life-saving work and will enable further development of devices that will catch cancers earlier.

Personalized Onco-Genomics (POG): The BC Cancer Agency—a leader in cancer genomics—has embarked on a world-first study that could shift the existing paradigm of cancer care by truly personalizing treatment strategies for individual patients. While our knowledge of cancer biology is expanding and survival rates are increasing, physicians continue to rely on results from large, randomized clinical trials to guide their treatment decisions. POG is a unique pilot study to investigate the feasibility of a truly personalized

approach to cancer therapy for patients with a variety of rare cancers for which no standard treatment regimens currently exist. By mapping in detail the genomic structure of each patient’s cancer, researchers will be able to determine potential drug targets and design a treatment regimen based on a biological rationale. Ride funds will allow BC Cancer Agency researchers to apply their cancer genomics and imaging expertise to real patient care issues in this groundbreaking study.

Immunotherapy: The BC Cancer Agency’s Immunotherapy Research Program is the first of its kind in the world. Taking place at the Deeley Research Centre on Vancouver Island, the program has uncovered abundant evidence that therapeutic cancer vaccines can enhance the body’s natural immune response to cancer and launch more potent, curative responses. Ride dollars have supported preliminary studies and laid the groundwork for a new Immunotherapy Clinical Trials Program. Already, the team is developing a therapeutic

vaccine for ovarian cancer. Further support from the Ride will enable these internationally-recognized clinicians and scientists to develop personalized vaccines to help treat lymphoma, breast and prostate cancer.

New Investigators: Ride dollars are supporting the BC Cancer Foundation’s New Investigator Awards. These awards have allowed four leading young scientists to open new labs in the BC Cancer Agency’s Research Centre. Drs. Ryan Morin, Inanc Birol, Christian Steidl and Kevin Bennewith are publishing world-class discoveries and have already provided the international research community with a substantial gain in knowledge in Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, cancer genomics, hypoxic tumours and clinically

relevant findings that could help predict treatment outcomes for patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.