AACR Cancer Progress Report cites continued momentum despite drastic impact of COVID-19
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American Association for Cancer Research today released its annual Cancer Progress Report, which outlines advances in treatment and prevention and describes how the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered cancer research and care.
“During this challenging time, maintaining the momentum against cancer is more important than ever,” Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), CEO of AACR, said in a press release.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted just how crucial the biomedical research community is to the health and safety of our country and, indeed, the world," she added. We urgently need strong, consistent federal support for the NIH and NCI so that we can continue to understand, prevent, treat and ultimately cure cancer, as well as all diseases that threaten human lives.”
The NCI has joined a larger effort within the NIH to better understand COVID-19 and is conducting the NCI COVID-19 in Cancer Patients Study to gain information that will lead to improved management of people with cancer and the novel coronavirus.
Screenings, trial enrollment decline
Despite ongoing progress, the pandemic has significantly disrupted cancer research, treatment and patient care.
According to this year’s report:
- Electronic medical records data from 190 hospitals across 23 states showed the number of screening tests for early detection of cervical, breast, and colon cancer conducted in the United States plunged by 85 percent or more after the nation’s first COVID-19 case was reported.
- Seventy-nine percent of those actively undergoing treatment had to delay some aspect of their care because of COVID-19.
- Delays in cancer screening and treatment are projected to lead to more than 10,000 additional deaths from breast and colorectal cancer over the next decade.
- The number of new patients enrolling in clinical trials declined by 74% during the first 2 weeks of May compared with the same period in 2019. Since then, enrollment in clinical trials has increased somewhat but remains 30 percent lower than before the pandemic.
- Changes that have been made to accommodate and protect patients on clinical trials during the pandemic, such as increased use of telemedicine to deliver care and assess adverse events, may have a long-term positive impact on cancer research by improving access to these trials for a larger, more diverse group of patients.
New treatments, fewer deaths
The report also outlines several advances in the fight against cancer during the 1-year period between Aug. 1, 2019, and July 31:
- The FDA approved 35 new treatments for several cancer types — the highest number reported in any Cancer Progress Report during the past 10 years. These include one molecularly targeted therapeutic and one immunotherapeutic for treatment of cancers with a specific genetic biomarker regardless of cancer type; the first poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)-targeted therapeutics for treatment of prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer; the first molecularly targeted therapeutic approved for epithelioid sarcoma; and the first antibody-drug conjugate for treatment of triple-negative breast cancer.
- The U.S. cancer death rate declined by 29 percent from 1991 to 2017, a reduction that has saved 2.9 million lives.
- The cigarette smoking rate among U.S. adults has dropped to less than 14 percent, down from 42 percent in 1965, largely due to public education and policy initiatives.
Cancer remains an enormous public health challenge, according to the report, which projected that the number of new cancer cases will increase from 1.8 million in 2020 to 2.3 million in 2040. This increase is expected to be driven largely by overall population growth and a rising number of Americans aged 65 years or older.
Additionally, it is estimated that 413,000 children aged 14 years or younger will develop cancer in 2020 and 328,000 will die of the disease, according to the report.
If access to health care is not improved, particularly in low and lower middle-income countries, the report projected 13.7 million cases of childhood cancer and 11.1 million deaths will occur between 2020 and 2050.
Disparities in cancer continue to negatively affect racial and ethnic minorities. For example, non-Hispanic Black children and adolescents with cancer are more than 50% more likely to die of the disease than non-Hispanic white children with cancer, according to the report.
Call for more funding
The report outlines the increasing burden of cancer and the need for continued transformative research to develop new approaches to cancer prevention, early detection and treatment.
Specifically, it calls for elected leaders to:
- provide an increase of at least $3 billion in the NIH budget and $522 million in the NCI budget in fiscal year 2021, for a total of $44.7 billion for the NIH and $6.9 billion for the NCI.
- ensure full appropriation of funding designated through the 21st Century Cures Act for targeted initiatives, including the National Cancer Moonshot, in fiscal year 2021 and that the funding is supplemental to the increase in the NIH base budget.
- support the FDA’s critical regulatory science initiatives with an increase of at least $120 million in discretionary budget authority in fiscal year 2021; and
- support the CDC Cancer Prevention and Control programs with total funding of at least $559 million. This includes funding for comprehensive cancer control, cancer registries, and screening and awareness programs for specific cancers.
“We are very pleased to present the AACR Cancer Progress Report 2020, which details how medical research is powering unparalleled progress against the collection of devastating diseases we call cancer,” Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, FAACR, AACR president and professor of medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, said in a press release. “The development of new cancer treatments and other medical products used in cancer care is made possible because of the tireless work of individuals across the spectrum of cancer science, from basic, translational and clinical research.”
The full report can be found at https://cancerprogressreport.aacr.org/progress/.
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