Published Dec 31, 2020

Cancer Treatments Have Advanced at the Fastest Pace in History; From FDA Approvals to an Incredible Decrease In Death Rates

The year 2020 has been hard for many of us, but in the cancer world, there's been huge progress. SurvivorNet breaks down some of the biggest advances in research and treatment.

Shelby Black

Details

The Victories

2020 has seen huge advancements in cancer; including new cancer drug approvals, decrease in death rates, and work to make clinical trials more accessible.
There have been a record number of FDA approvals for new cancer drugs and new uses for existing drugs.
Researchers are working to address unequal access to clinical trials for Black and other minority communities; SurvivorNet’s "Close the Gap" initiative is working to increase awareness to improve survival rates for all people diagnosed with cancer.

This year has seen huge progress in cancer research and treatment, with a historic number of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals for drugs to fight cancer and significant decreases in death rates across the board. Even though 2020 has been hard for so many of us, these are victories worth celebrating.

FDA Approval Wave

The increase of FDA approved cancer drugs kicked off in the beginnings months of 2020, with aggressive lung cancer drug Tabrecta, PARP Inhibitor Olaparib for advanced prostate cancer, and Daratumumab for newly diagnosed or recurring multiple myeloma being approved for patients. It may be hard to believe that these approvals have occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, but in reality these approvals stem from research conducted prior to COVID-19, with some clinical trials occurring at the end of 2019.

One of the reasons why this year saw speedy drug approvals is due to a new FDA program which launched in March. This program accelerates drug approvals. Through this program the FDA reviews data to new clinical trials within 24 hours, and turn around single-patient requests for expanded access to certain therapies "within three hours." In short, the FDA is reviewing new drug applications and clinical trial results faster than ever before.

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Decrease in Death Rates

Thanks to an increase in research, the United States has seen a significant drop in cancer deaths over the years. This includes everyone men, women, and children. For men, the decline was consistent across ten common cancers, such as leukemia, melanoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, colon cancer, and lung cancer. For women, there was a decrease in common cancers including breast cancer, bladder cancer, ovarian cancer, melanoma, and cervical cancer.

However, there is still a lot more progress to be made. In cases of children, advancements in pediatric cancer treatments have led to a 90% survival rate for children facing a cancer battle. 50 years ago, children faced a 10% survival rate when diagnosed with cancer. And while the survival rates have increased exponentially, the number of new diagnoses annually has not decreased since 2000.

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Access to Clinical Trials

The disproportionate access to clinical trials has been a long-standing problem within the cancer community. However, researchers have made increasing accessibility for Black communities and other communities of color a priority in order to increase survival rates. There’s still a lot of suspicion within the Black community around trusting health care systems and clinical trials; the past Tuskegee experiment is a huge reason for this baseline mistrust.

However, over the past two years, SurvivorNet has focused on raising awareness around this persistent racial gap. The "Close the Gap" initiative is working to improve survival rates for all people diagnosed with cancer regardless of race. We have teamed with NYU Langone and The Perlmutter Cancer Center as partners in this effort, as the fight for equality carries on.