Court quashes OHIP denial of out-of-country treatment for man with terminal cancer

TORONTO — An Ontario court has quashed a decision denying provincial coverage for out-of-country cancer treatment to a 37-year-old man with Stage 4 melanoma.

Alex Shved’s oncologist had applied to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan to fund tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy for him in the United States, but that was denied both in an original decision and in a reconsideration.

Shved asked the Divisional Court for a judicial review, and the court has now ordered OHIP to issue a new decision by the end of next week.

The judges, in a split 2-1 decision, write that OHIP’s denial is a life-or-death matter for Shved, and its reasoning for denying him coverage is “problematic.”

They say the core reason seems to be that approving Shved’s request would undermine a possible future negotiation process with the drug manufacturer on pricing to publicly fund the treatment in Ontario, but OHIP’s reasons offer no real basis for that.

The dissenting judge agrees with the reasons of the other two but wanted to go further and direct OHIP’s executive officer of Ontario public drug programs to recommend funding, and for OHIP to expedite its new decision on the basis of that recommendation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2026.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press