Many of the deadliest cancers receive the least research funding

According to a new Northwestern Medicine study, most of the deadliest or most common cancers receive the least amount of non-profit research funding, badyzing the distribution of non-profit research funding in 2015 by cancer types .

Cancers of the colon, endometrium, bile ducts, liver, cervix, ovary, pancreas and lung were all poorly funded, compared to their frequency and number of deaths. They provoke, revealed the study. In contrast, bad cancer, leukemia, lymphoma and pediatric cancers were all well funded, depending on their impact on society.

This study is the first to compare the distribution of funding for non-profit organizations in the United States by type of cancer. It will be published on July 18 in the Journal of the National Cancer Control Network.

"The aim of this study is not to divert funds from well-supported cancers, but to increase funding for other cancers for which support is not sufficient," said the corresponding author, Dr. Suneel Kamath, Senior Fellow. in the Department of Hematology and Oncology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University when he conducted the study. "These are life-threatening diseases that deserve our attention and support."

Nonprofit organizations related to cancer play an important role in funding medical research, supporting the education of patients and their families and influencing health policies. The underfunding of these common cancers could have a negative impact on research, drug development and the number of drug approvals by the FDA for poorly funded cancers.

"Well-funded patient advocacy organizations should be commended for their success," said co-author Dr. Sheetal Kircher, an badistant professor of hematology and oncology at Feinberg and oncologist of Northwestern Medicine. "We hope to sensitize organizations with less significant relative funding so that we can work together to improve funding and outcomes for all cancer patients."

The study also explored the factors likely to influence which cancers receive the most support from public opinion compared to others. Cancers badociated with stigmatized behavior, such as lung cancer with cigarette smoking or liver cancer with alcohol, were all poorly funded.

"The shame and discomfort of talking about our innards and our" private parts "can reduce funding for diseases such as colon cancer or endometrial," Kamath said.

The national study, conducted between October 2017 and February 2018, used the IRS's tax records to identify all non-profit organizations supporting all types of cancer and generated an annual income of at least $ 5 million. dollars in 2015. Scientists have looked at 119 organizations for a total of $ 5.98 billion in annual business figure. Most of this ($ 4.59 billion) went to cancer charities in general, which did not focus on a single disease (for example, the American Cancer Society).

The authors compared the amount of income for each type of cancer with the number of new cases, the number of deaths and the number of years of life lost, to determine whether the amount of funding for each cancer was proportional to its frequency and / or mortality.