Thanks to research, more patients are having successful cancer treatment, but for too many people there is still no cure. You may have come across a myth that often pops up on social media - that a cure for cancer exists, but it is being hidden from the public for some reason. Here we shed some light on this issue and explain why it’s simply not true - there is no ‘hidden cancer cure'.
Addressing myths you may have heard
There is a lot of misinformation out there about cancer and we know you may be worried if you've heard that someone is hiding a cure. Let's answer your questions and explore what the research says.
Billions has been spent on cancer research, so why don’t we have a cure yet?
We understand how upsetting and frustrating it can be that cancer is often so complex to treat. Cancer touches so many lives, including the lives of the thousands of people all over the world involved in cancer research (not just researchers, but doctors, patients and their families). It simply doesn’t make sense that some of those people would be willing to risk their lives and the lives of their loved ones by hiding new cures.
Billions have already been spent on cancer research over many decades, so it is understandable that you might be questioning whether a cure for cancer may already exist.
The reality is that cancer is incredibly difficult to cure. 'Why have we not cured cancer yet?' is the question we get asked the most. There are lots of reasons – one of the main ones is that cancer is not just one disease, but over 200.
Cancer can hide from our immune systems, evolve so that treatments stop working and use a number of tricks to keep their cells alive. Our researchers are working incredibly hard to overcome these challenges and look for new cures.
Could big pharma make more money by hiding a cure?
There is a dangerous rumour that pharmaceutical companies have already created a cure that would work for all cancers, but that they are hiding it to make more money from other treatments.
It’s certainly true that pharmaceutical companies make a profit from the sales of treatments, but they also invest billions of pounds into developing them. Clinical trials – the essential last stage of getting a drug to reach patients safely – can cost tens of millions of pounds, and without investment from pharmaceuticals companies it would be very difficult to finance them.
Pharmaceuticals companies, cancer research charities and research institutes each play a key role in the cancer research journey when it comes to starting new cures. As an example - the drug olaparib, which has now been used to treat over 140,000 people with cancer worldwide, required investment from a global pharmaceutical company to make it through clinical trials to reach cancer patients. But it was our incredible Curestarters who helped us fund the very first stages of the researcher’s project.
Could someone else be hiding a secret cancer cure?
Apart from how challenging it is to develop new cancer cures, it would be very hard to keep something like that a secret. The sheer scale of the operation would be mind-boggling. Think of the huge amount of people involved in the research and manufacturing of the drug. Could that number of people really keep such a secret?
Dr Robert Grimes published a great paper in which he studied the mathematical likelihood of conspiracy theories. He created a model using real uncovered medical conspiracies to estimate how long it would take for something like this to be uncovered, depending on the amount of people involved.
Dr Grimes estimated that, if only the biggest pharmaceutical companies were involved in the conspiracy, there would still be around 714,000 people who knew something. And with that many people involved; his calculations show that it would only take around 3.17 years for someone to blab.
Is it true that cancer researchers don’t want to put themselves out of a job?
Everyone knows somebody that has been affected by cancer – and that includes the team at Worldwide Cancer Research and all of our researchers around the world. We can understand why you might have doubt, however we can assure you that every single person here and in our labs worldwide would be delighted to reach a day when our job was no longer needed, because that would mean that we had succeeded in our vision to see a day when no life is cut short by cancer.
We are all human, we are all affected by cancer, and we all have the same goal - to reach a day when no life is cut short by cancer.
How are cancer cures discovered?
We can't cure what we don't understand. First researchers need to learn about cancer – how it grows, how it spreads, and how we might stop it. This is what discovery research is all about.
With over 200 different types of cancer that all behave differently, there are a lot of questions that still need answering. That's why we support research into any cancer type. From the rare types to the ones we know too well, our Curestarter researchers are asking the big questions about all cancers that have never been asked before.
Discovery research leads to breakthroughs in our knowledge which can spark new cures. A new treatment target can lead to the development of a new drug, that can then be tested in patients and rolled out in the clinic if successful. Every new cure starts with discovery research.
Worldwide Cancer Research funds the first stage of the research pipeline
There are 3 main stages from lab to clinic
Discovery research
The very first step in the research journey, also referred to as basic, or fundamental research.
Translational research
Turning the discovery research into something practical, like a new drug, test, or treatment.
Clinical research
Testing that new drug, test, or treatment on people to confirm whether it is safe and effective.
How close are we to a cure for cancer?
There are over 200 different types of cancer and some of them are easier to cure than others. For example, the HPV vaccine and screening programmes have led to the possibility that cervical cancer may soon be eliminated.
Other cancers are still incurable though. Pancreatic cancer can be particularly challenging to detect and treat, but with the help of Curestarters, breakthroughs are leading the way to new treatments.
Rare cancers can also be harder to research and cure, which is why we support research into any cancer type including diffuse midline glioma, an aggressive childhood cancer.
Thanks to research, cancer survival rates are rising. But we must all work together – charities, researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and Curestarters – to find more cures.
Will there ever be a cure for cancer?
It is unlikely that there will ever be one cure, that can work for all cancer patients, to help all types of cancer. However, international cancer research can help us reach a day when no life is cut short by cancer - a day when people affected by cancer and their families no longer have to fear losing time, or a life that should have been.
Thanks to you, incredible progress is being made worldwide. An innovative discovery research project you helped fund has allowed Dr Laura Soucek to develop a new cancer treatment that is now in clinical trials. And today, thousands of patients are benefitting from olaparib, a game-changing treatment that exists thanks to the kindness of Curestarters.
We may not find a single cure, but we do have the tools and treatments to cure many people already. Cancer survival rates have doubled in the last 40 years, with 1 in 2 people who are diagnosed with cancer now living for 10 years or more after their diagnosis.
Can AI help find a cure for cancer?
AI looks set to fundamentally change all aspects of our lives, including how we cure cancer. While AI will never eradicate cancer altogether, it may help accelerate research and save more lives.
Dr Daniel Lietha and his team in Spain are investigating whether cutting-edge AI technology could help us to target and kill cancer cells with more precision than ever before. Just a few years ago this sort of project was not even possible, but now your support is helping cancer researchers to boldly go where no cancer researcher has ever gone before.
Professor Peter Carmeliet and his team are using AI to develop what could one day become a new type of immunotherapy. The researchers want to rewire a type of cell called an ‘endothelial cell’ to boost the immune response against cancer. If successful, this work could ultimately help more patients benefit from immunotherapy.
These are exciting times with promising artificial intelligence based strategies knocking on the door...a whole new way of performing research!
Your FAQs about cures and cancer misinformation
How can I tell if a claim about a new cancer cure is true?
We understand how upsetting and frustrating it can be that cancer is often so complex to treat. When a loved one is diagnosed with cancer one of the first things you might do is to search for cures, but unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation online and on social media.
Trusted sources of information include the NHS and cancer charities. Your oncologist is the best person to ask if you have specific questions about your own cancer treatment.
How long does it take for a new cancer treatment to reach patients?
The first stage of research is called discovery research, where researchers find out new information about cancer. Then in translational research this new information is used to drive the development of a new drug. If a new drug looks promising it will go through clinical trials, where it is tested on patients. If trials are successful then the new treatment needs to be listened before it is made available to patients. This process varies in length, but it can take up to 10 to 15 years.
We know it can be frustrating that new treatments take a long time to reach patients, but it is important that all new drugs are properly tested to ensure they are safe for people to use.
Are cancer survival rates improving in the UK?
Yes, since Worldwide Cancer Research was founded in 1979, cancer survival rates in England and Wales have doubled, thanks to international cancer research. Now 1 in 2 people in the UK will survive their cancer diagnosis.
How can I help find new cures for cancer?
One day we will stop the suffering caused by cancer. Not because of a miracle drug, or because there’s a secret cure out there already, but because hundreds of thousands of people are working together every day, and all over the world, to find new cures. Will you be one of tehm?
Become a Curestarter and you can bring us one step closer to a day where no life is cut short by cancer.
Donate today to start new cures
Be part of the united effort to stop lives being cut short by cancer.