Why do some cancers see dramatic improvements in screening, diagnosing and treatment therapies while other cancers continue to present formidable clinical challenges?Part 1 of this three-part series called the “War on Cancer,” charts the milestones in the war on breast, prostate, testicular, cervical and AIDS cancers. This is not an exhaustive list. But it does provide an interesting overview of how, since President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act 1971, these patients have seen a better quality of life and improving survival rates for their cancers.
Part 2 focuses on eye cancer (also called choroidal melanoma, uveal melanoma, intraocular melanoma, eye melanoma, ocular melanoma and ciliary body melanoma), which has not seen a change in incidence or mortality rates in the past 25 years, despite considerable and expensive research, diagnosing and treatment advances.
Cancer "cures" seem to have four historical patterns in common:
* breakthrough research
* political action
* patient advocacy
* personal stories
When all four factors come together, life-altering changes in the cancer landscape happen.
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January 1971 – President Nixon declares a War on Cancer during his State of the Union address. Cancer is the second-leading cause of death (after heart disease) in the US. He requests that Congress add $100 million dollars to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) budget for cancer research.
December 1971 - Nixon signs the National Cancer Act to make the “conquest of cancer a national crusade.” The Act funds 15 cancer research centers and its mandate is research to “reduce the incidence, morbidity and mortality from cancer.”
1973 - Between 1973 and 1978, about 280,000 women take part in the NCI-ACS (American Cancer Society) mammography screening project at 27 cancer centers around the country.
September 28, 1974 – First Lady Betty Ford discloses her breast cancer diagnosis and talks openly about her resulting mastectomy.
1976 – Journalist Betty Rollin writes, First You Cry, a ground-breaking book on her breast cancer journey.
1978 – Gay men start showing signs of what will become known as AIDS, which is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
1978 – The FDA approves the anticancer drug cisplatin which revolutionizes the treatment of testicular cancer, a lethal cancer of young men. Patients now have one of the highest cancer cure rates – even in metastatic cases.
1983 - The Susan G. Komen Foundation holds its first Race for the Cure in Dallas, Texas. The Foundation has invested over $1 billion dollars in breast cancer programs in its 25 years of operation. Breast cancer survival rates have steadily increased in the past 30 years and have been attributed to smaller tumors at the time of diagnosis.
February 1985 – The FDA approves the first HIV antibody test which allows at-risk people to be screened prior to the onset of symptoms.
March 1987 – ACT UP is formed to “demand greater access to experimental AIDS drugs and for a coordinated national policy to fight the disease.”
March 1987 – The FDA approves the AIDS antiretroviral drug AZT which delays the progression of the disease and the replication of virus.
October 11, 1987 – The AIDS Memorial Quilt is displayed on the National Mall in Washington, DC.
November 1987 – San Francisco journalist Randy Shilts publishes, And the Band Played On, the first book to document the exploding AIDS crisis.
October 1991 – Basketball star Magic Johnson announces he has AIDS.
1993 – “Junk Bond King” Michael Milken founds CaPCURE, the Association for the Cure of Cancer of the Prostate, (now called the Prostate Cancer Foundation), following his diagnosis with the disease.
1994 - The FDA approves the PSA test which provides early detection of prostate cancer. Advances in prostate diagnosis and treatment have been dramatic: Overall, 99% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer survive at least five years. Further, 92% survive at least 10 years, and 61% survive at least 15 years. These are impressive statistics in a disease in which 2 out of 3 cases are found in men 65 years and older.
1994 – The BRCA1 gene is found, that, if damaged, can predispose women to breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
1995 – The BRCA2 gene is found.
1995 - Julia Sweeney, who gained notoriety as the androgynous Pat on Saturday Night Live, annnounces that she has cervical cancer.
1996 - Sweeney writes and performs her one-woman hit Broadway monologue, God Said, Ha!, in which she addressed her experience of surviving cervical cancer.
October 1996 – Clinical launch of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 test which can determine an at-risk woman’s chance of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
October 1996 – Cycling champion Lance Armstrong is diagnosed with testicular cancer.
1997 – Armstrong launches the Lance Armstrong Foundation which has raised $181 million dollars for cancer programs.
2000 – Armstrong publishes his best-selling book about his cancer story called, It’s Not About the Bike.
May 2004 – Armstrong launches the Livestrong bracelets with 70 million bands sold to date.
June 2006 – The FDA approves the Gardasil vaccine against the human papillomavirus (HPV) infection that causes virtually all cases of cervical cancer. The cervical cancer death rate declined by 74% between 1955 and 1992 due to the increased use of the Pap screening test. Rates continue to decline 4% each year. Vaccines like Gardasil may eventually eradicate cervical cancer.
August 27-28, 2007 - The Lance Armstrong Foundation announces the first ever Presidential Cancer Forum in which candidates will "detail their respective policy plans for fighting cancer, a disease that kills nearly 1,500 Americans every day."
Next Up: The War on Cancer - Part 2: The Presidential Debates
It’s your sight.
It’s your life.
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