
1 minute read
THE CHALLENGE
OUR VISION A world where people are free from the impact of prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer deaths in 2018:
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358,989 globally 13,145 in UK
Deaths estimated in 2035:
630,715 globally (75% increase) 20,922 in the UK (59% increase)
Cancer doesn’t stop for COVID-19. Neither do we.
THE CHALLENGE
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in England and the most frequently diagnosed cancer among men in over half of the countries of the world 1. It also has the largest racial disparity of any major cancer, killing Black men twice as often as White men 2 in the US 3 .
Whilst prostate cancer is treatable when localised within the prostate, it becomes lifelimiting and potentially terminal when cancerous cells spread around the body. There is an urgent need to develop novel and effective treatments for men with advanced prostate cancer, as this is when it kills. This urgency has been increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in significant delays to cancer being diagnosed and treated – more men will be diagnosed with cancers which are already advanced, or experience treatment delays which will allow their cancers to spread.
2020 has created new challenges for medical research charities. It will take approximately 4.5 years for medical research spend to recover to normal levels 4 . During 2020/21 we maintained our research and were able to confirm five new research projects into advanced prostate cancer at a time that there were many bright scientists with great ideas and fewer organisations able to fund them.
In 2021/22 and beyond, we will continue to use our deep knowledge of the prostate cancer research ecosystem to invest our funds where they will have the most impact, so that the future will be brighter.
Prostate cancer accounts for 26% of male cancer diagnosis in the UK 1 The Global Cancer Observatory, International Agency for Research on Cancer,
WHO (2020) | Cancer Today Maps | gco.iarc.fr/today/online-analysis-map 2 Public Health England (2015) | Lifetime risk of being diagnosed with, or dying from, prostate cancer by major ethnic group in England 2008–2010 | bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-015-0405-5 3 National Cancer Institute | Cancer Disparities | cancer.gov/about-cancer/ understanding/disparities 4 Association of Medical Research Charities (2020) | COVID-19: The risk to AMRC charities | amrc.org.uk/covid-19-the-risk-to-amrc-charities