We plan to run occasional articles on this website about aspects of WM research and treatment, specific to Canada and Canadian patients. If you have any suggestions for topics that you would like to see explored or commented on, you can email your suggestions or questions to wm.in.Canada@wmfc.ca.
Although these are neither medical advice nor the opinion of the WMFC Board, we hope that as educational material, these help you navigate the Canadian world of WM.
Canadian VOICE study results
In May 2026, researchers Drs. Vos and Becking reported to us, in a National Zoom, on their patient-driven project designed to identify treatment preferences of patients with WM. In particular, for our Canadian audience, they presented a zoomed-in view of the Canadian demographics and our results. The recording of the presentation is available here.
For those wanting a more in-depth read, the paper reporting on the WM-VOICE study has now been published online in Blood Neoplasia, and is available here: Treatment Preferences in Waldenström Macroglobulinemia: an International Discrete Choice Experiment in 1,455 Patients.
Real-world review of the WM population in Ontario
A recent paper, published in the journal Blood Neoplasia, looks back at the WM patient population in Ontario. As the abstract of the article says, “Real-world data on long-term outcomes, particularly with newer agents, are limited. We sought to characterize treatment outcomes in a contemporary, population-based cohort of patients with LPL or WM.”
There are a lot of statistics in the paper — not surprising in something that is documenting Ontario patient outcomes from 2005 to 2023. The paper records that reality; it is not proposing what should be done in the future. But of course, knowledge of the past helps […]
Current Canadian Research in WM
The WMFC and IWMF are co-funding cutting edge WM research at the Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Hospital, in Toronto.
Two major WM events are occurring at Sunnybrook. The first is Dr. Neil Berinstein’s pan-Canadian BRAWM trial that is headquartered at Sunnybrook. This exciting trial combines Bendamustine, Rituximab and the BTK inhibitor, Acalabrutinib (BRA) for first line treatment in WM. Within a few months it is expected that the trial will have filled all 59 openings in this coast-to-coast trial.
The second event arises from the first. Patients in the BRAWM trial have blood and marrow samples taken before, during and after the […]
WMFC and LLSC Announce a WM-focussed Operating Grant
The WMFC, in partnership with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada (LLSC), is pleased to announce the availability of an Operating Grant for research into WM.
An Operating Grant is a two-year grant designed to provide funding to research that may ultimately lead to a significant change in the understanding, diagnosis, or treatment of blood cancer — in our case, specifically for WM.
All the details are available at the LLSC website on Operating Grants, but the highlights of such an award are as follows:
- Available to researchers at Canadian institutions
- Funding is for up […]
WM and DVT — One Member’s Cautionary Story
Ed. note: Many of us need to go the Emergency department from time to time, for things not related to WM. During the discussion of our symptoms with the triage nurse, there is the inevitable request along the lines of, “Tell me about your medical history”. Of course, we obediently mention that we have “Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia”. They express puzzlement. We spell it for them; they type it into our medical record. Possibly correctly. We explain that it is an indolent form of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. That they understand.
But not all non-Hodgkin Lymphomas have the […]
English (Canada)