We are proud to have joined forces with five other charities to call for urgent investment in cancers with the lowest survival, including high-grade brain tumours.
We are co-authors of a new report, Less Survivable Cancers: the next research priority, produced by the six charities that make up the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce.
The report focuses on six types of cancer – brain, liver, lung, pancreas, stomach and oesophagus.
Each one has a five-year survival rate of less than 30% and between them they account for half of all cancer deaths in the UK.
Taken together, five-year survival for all six types of cancer is just 14% – a figure the LSCT wants to see doubled to 28% by 2029.
In comparison, five-year survival for breast cancer stands at 87%.
The report says: “Over the last decade, the more survivable cancers (MSCs) received five times more research funding from charities and government than less survivable cancers (LSCs).
“LSCs suffer from a “vicious cycle” where poor survival outcomes contribute to fewer researchers and less research investment, which in turn, leads to fewer positive research breakthroughs, continued low survival, even fewer researchers and less funding.
“Despite accounting for half of common cancer deaths, the less survivable cancers still suffer from low awareness among the public and health practitioners. All this must change so that we can start to double survival for less survivable cancers.”