Many women in Canada are diagnosed with ovarian cancer while balancing busy, vital lives and contributing fully to their communities.¹ Women with careers, families and major life milestones all ahead of them. The brutal reality of an ovarian cancer diagnosis, most often at a late stage, is that for many, these milestones will not be reached. Ovarian cancer has a net five-year survival rate of only 44 percent.²

Often referred to as the “silent killer” due to common challenges in diagnosis, many specialists now reject this label, instead pointing to the need for improved symptom awareness, healthcare practitioner education and ongoing efforts to introduce a reliable screening tool.³

This year, an estimated 3,000 Canadians will learn they have ovarian cancer, and approximately 2,000 will lose their lives to this devastating disease. It is the most lethal gynecological cancer in Canada.⁴ The extraordinarily high unmet medical need reflects the historical lack of health equity for gynecological cancers.⁵ Women experience a higher lifetime risk for gender-specific cancers than men, and 88% of the Canadian women’s health gap stems from lower treatment efficacy.⁶ Addressing this gender health inequity gap is critical. 

Women are vital members of Canadian society, supporting their families through income generation and caregiving. They are foundational to our country, and their impact is essential for growth and prosperity. An investment in closing this health gap contributes to women’s health, fewer early deaths, economic benefits, increased productivity and positive ripple effects to Canadian families and communities. Addressing this health equity issue is a societal-level investment in Canada.⁶ Offering hope in the face of one of the most daunting cancers that affects only those with ovaries offers a path forward for half the population. 

Ovarian Cancer: Hope

Women and their physicians are in critical need of hope. For over a decade, patients living with ovarian cancer in Canada have been left without new options. During this time, oncologists have had limited medicines and treatment options for their patients, highlighting the need for innovation and hope. 

The profound toll of ovarian cancer around the world on people and healthcare systems includes ongoing diagnostic challenges leading to delays and late-stage diagnosis, low survival rate, and the incredible emotional burden on families and caregivers.⁷ ⁸ In Canada, health technology assessment processes are intended to assess the value of innovative medicines for Canadians, including their clinical benefit and broader health system impact. Canada must find a way to consider new, first-in-class medicines to meet the needs of those living with devastating diseases and to open the door for future, new advancements as research evolves and builds.

AbbVie in Canada is dedicated to discovering and delivering innovative medicines that solve serious health issues today. Transforming patient outcomes through our medicines and solutions, creating possibilities for more people and communities across Canada, is AbbVie’s mission. Innovative treatments are critical to upholding this mission. 

Women in Canada, together with their families and loved ones, deserve this hope.

The next generation of innovation will build upon the hope that women, when faced with an ovarian cancer diagnosis, will see their children graduate, dance at their wedding and reach that next milestone in their career. 

AbbVie remains committed to advancing solutions for women living with ovarian cancer because women cannot wait.

For credible information surrounding ovarian cancer impact, incidence and resources, please visit OvarianCanada.org. 

References

¹Tone A, Boghosian T, Ross A, Baugh E, Altman AD, Dawson L, Reid F, Crawford C. Understanding the Experience of Canadian Women Living with Ovarian Cancer through the Every Woman StudyTM. Curr Oncol. 2022;29(5):3318-3340. doi: 10.3390/curroncol29050271. 

²Terry Fox Research Institute. Understanding the Key Facts and Figures About Ovarian Cancer Research. 2019. https://www.tfri.ca/about-cancer/cancer-types/cancer-type/ovarian

³Fred Hutch Cancer Centre. Squelching ovarian cancer: the not-so-silent killer. 2018. https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2018/09/squelching-ovarian-cancer-the-not-so-silent-killer.html 

⁴Brenner DR, Gillis J, Demers AA, Ellison LF, Ng C, Zhang SX, Finley C, Fitzgerald N, Saint-Jacques N, Shack L, Turner D, Urquhart R, Woods RR; Canadian Cancer Statistics Advisory Committee. Projected estimates of cancer in Canada in 2026. CMAJ. 2026;198(14):E526-E534. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.252152.

⁵Karpel HC, Zambrano Guevara LM, Rimel BJ, Hacker KE, Bae-Jump V, Castellano T, Curtin J, Pothuri B. The missing data: A review of gender and sex disparities in research. Cancer. 2025;131(6):e35769. doi: 10.1002/cncr.35769. 

⁶World Economic Forum & McKinsey Health Institute. “Blueprint to Close the Women’s Health Gap: How to Improve Lives and Economies for All”. 2025 https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Blueprint_to_Close_the_
Women%E2%80%99s_Health_Gap_2025.pdf.

⁷Hong MK, Ding DC. Early Diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer: A Comprehensive Review of the Advances, Challenges, and Future Directions. Diagnostics (Basel). 2025;15(4):406. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics15040406. 

⁸Xu X, Yu S, Jing M, Liu Y, Zhang W. A mixed methods study of psychological distress in family caregivers of ovarian cancer patients based on the ABC-X model. Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2026;80:103088. doi: 10.1016/j.ejon.2025.103088. 

Natacha Raphael is the Head of Corporate Affairs & Patient Engagement at AbbVie Canada.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.