A Gender Gap in Cancer(progress against prostate cancer greatly lags breast cancer research & treatm

A Gender Gap in Cancer
The progress against prostate cancer greatly lags breast cancer research and treatment options
by Catherine Arnst



This year 218,890 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. By comparison, 178,480 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in women. Not a huge difference, but a new report finds that for every prostate cancer drug on the market, there are seven used to treat breast cancer, and federal spending on breast cancer research outpaces prostate cancer spending by a ratio of nearly two to one.

The National Prostate Cancer Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington, released the report, titled "The Prostate Cancer Gap: A Crisis in Men's Health." It examines what the group calls "glaring disparities" in awareness, funding, media coverage, and research between prostate and breast cancer, even though prostate cancer is the second-deadliest cancer in men after lung cancer. "Year after year, the prostate cancer community has received less attention and less funding than many other diseases," says Dr. Richard Adkins, chief executive office and vice-chairman of the prostate cancer coalition.

Provenge Setback Spurs Advocacy
It's true that progress on prostate cancer has been much slower than for breast, colon, and kidney cancers. The only new drug for the disease introduced over the last decade has been Taxotere, from Sanofi-Aventis (SNY), a very toxic chemotherapy approved in 2004 for metastatic prostate cancer. Over the same period, a number of breakthrough targeted therapies have been introduced for other cancers that are as effective or more effective than chemo and less toxic, such as Genentech's (DNA) Herceptin and Avastin for breast cancer, Millennium Pharmaceuticals (MLNM) Velcade for leukemia, ImClone Systems' (IMCL) Erbitux for colon cancer, Novartis' (NVS) Gleevec for stomach and blood cancers, and Pfizer's (PFE) Sutent for kidney cancers.

Part of the problem is that prostate cancer is an extremely slow-growing cancer, with a relatively low death rate, thus making it less of a national priority. The American Cancer Society estimates that 27,050 men will die from the disease this year in the U.S., while breast cancer will kill 40,460 women. Prostate cancer has also never attracted the level of patient advocacy that breast cancer has—most men simply do not like to talk about such a disease.

....

Less Media Coverage
The Prostate Coalition report noted the Provenge setback. It also found that spending on breast cancer research by the National Cancer Institute, which funds much of the academic research into cancer in the U.S., rose from $382 million in 1996 to $715 million by 2006. Over the same decade, prostate cancer funding soared from $86 million to $376 million.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2007/tc20070612_953676.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_technology

It lags because it is, rightfully, not as high a priority. Breast cancer is deadlier, and can strike much earlier. Most the men diagnosed with prostate cancer, like my father, will die of other causes, like my father, before the cancer gets them.

:)

My grandfather had it and they told him not to treat it, it wouldn't kill him. And it didn't. He died of a stroke 9 years later.

I'm not a doctor, but I really do wonder if the same isn't true is some respects for some breast cancers. Why have rates continued to climb? Is it possible that mammography is finding cancers that don't need to be found? (and shouldn't be radiated, thereby making them far worse.)

I think we will learn some things over the next 10 years that will surprise us. Today's conventional wisdom is tomorrow's blood-letting with leaches.

But god forbid the insurance companies be required to pay for expensive but safe MRIs vs cheaper but far more dangerous mammograms.

With both types of cancer, the younger the patient, the more aggressive the cancer and therefore the more urgent it is that it be treated.

Both cancers are more common in older people and grow more slowly. Older patients are also less able to weather the treatments. Very old patients of both sexes tend to be advised to stick with low-key, less stressful treatments -- to manage the illness until they die of natural causes.

None of which changes the fact that breast cancer is much more publicized and vastly greater amounts of money are spent researching detection and cures for it.

My wife, a breast-cancer survivor, feels the same.