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Why do the deadliest cancers get the attention ? least
By John Murphy Published July 28 , 2020
https :// www . mdlinx . com / article / why‐do‐the‐deadliest‐cancers‐get‐the‐least‐‐
cancers , like lung , colorectal , and pancreatic cancers , receives significantly less funding than that for other cancers , such as breast and pediatric cancers . What ’ s behind this discrepancy ?
Lung cancer
, for instance , has the highest mortality of all cancers : an estimated 142,670 US deaths in 2019 alone , according to the National Cancer Institute . But the amount of funding raised for lung cancer was only $ 92 million in 2015 . At the same time , breast cancer caused an estimated 42,260 deaths — about one-third of the number of
attention / 5DdSCjkdHA1omjcdxfuy8b Research to understand, diagnose , and manage the deadliest those who died from lung cancer . But the amount of money raised for breast cancer —$ 460 million in 2015 alone — dwarfs the amount raised for lung cancer by five-fold .
Why do deadlier cancers get less funding ? Are lung , colorectal , and pancreatic cancers less important or less deserving than breast or pediatric cancers ? Do the latter merit more attention or urgency
? Does comparing one cancer to another even make sense ? Or is there more to this than first meets the eye ?
Funding doesn ’ t match ‘ burden ’
In a 2019 study published in the Journal of the National Comprehensivee Cancer Network , researchers at Northwestern University looked at funds raised by nonprofit cancer organizations and compared these with the incidence, mortality , and years of life lost ( YLL ) for different cancer types . They found only a weak association between higher incidence of a particular cancer and the funding for that cancer . Furthermore , they found “ essentially no correlation ” between mortality or YLL and the amount of nonprofit funding for any cancer .
“ Many common or highly lethal diseases , including lung , colorectal , pancreatic , ovarian , and endometrial cancers , are underfunded relative to their burdens on society ,” the authors wrote .
“ Underfunding may have negative downstream effects on research , novel drug development , and number of FDA drug approvals for poorly fundedd cancers .”
Indeed , cancers that have less research funding are less likely to have innovative cures . Likewise , cancers that are highly funded are more likely to spur new treatments .