04 February 2022

It’s the most common male cancer in Australia, claiming the lives of more than 3,300 Aussie men every year, a toll which could be avoided if the call for a new global target to eliminate avoidable prostate cancer deaths is adopted.

The call is being made by Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia for World Cancer Day, with this year’s theme to close the care gap.

PCFA Chief of Mission and Head of Research, Professor Jeff Dunn, is leading the call as President-Elect of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), the international agency responsible for cancer control.

The Australian behavioural scientist will take up Presidency of the UICC in October this year, with a mandate for change. 

“Australia has one of the highest rates of prostate cancer in the world, with 1 in every 6 men likely to be affected in their lifetime and 49 Aussie men diagnosed every single day with this disease.

“Tragically, we lose 3,323 men to prostate cancer every year, and yet we know that if we detect it at Stage 1, their chances of survival for at least five years are 100 per cent.

“If we close the care gap and address the barriers to early detection and effective treatment, we can eliminate avoidable deaths from prostate cancer.”

PCFA’s STARGATE dataset shows there are around 230,000 Australian men alive today who have been diagnosed with the disease.

“Prostate cancer carries one of the highest burdens of disease of any cancer in this country, and accounts for more hospitalisations each year than any other type of cancer.

“Beyond the immediate costs on our health system, the toll prostate cancer takes on our lives is significant, with many men and families burdened by stigma, financial stress, incapacity to work, and mental illness related to their disease.

“In regional and disadvantaged areas, men have a 24% higher risk of death from prostate cancer - a disparity that is completely unacceptable in this day and age.

“Australia is ranked 15th* in the world when it comes to incidence rates of prostate cancer; ranking below countries such as the UK and USA,” Prof Dunn said.

“Two out of three Australian men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not detect the disease early enough, which is not good enough when men diagnosed with stage one prostate cancer have a 100 per cent five-year survival rate and long-term survivorship prospects that give them every chance of completely defeating the disease.”

“If we apply existing knowledge to help improve early detection and treatment, we can eliminate avoidable deaths and save the lives of more than 3,323 men each year.”

PCFA Chief Executive, Anne Savage, called for joint government and community action to improve prostate cancer control.

“There are three powerful things we can do to beat prostate cancer.

“Firstly, we need to review the clinical guidelines for PSA testing and bring them into line with current evidence so that GPs and patients work together towards early detection.

“Secondly, we need to see a doubling of funding for prostate cancer research in Australia, to travel the last mile towards closing the survival gap and saving lives.

“And thirdly, we need to invest in targeted awareness activity to reach those at risk, including many hundreds of thousands of young Australian men who may be at two or five times the risk of prostate cancer due to their family history.”

PCFA is also calling for greater government action on the affordability of new medicines and treatments.

“Men with prostate cancer often need to make the difficult decision whether to wait long periods for treatment in the public system, or pay for private treatment, which can be financially crippling,” Ms Savage said.

“The costs vary widely in different states for diagnostic treatments like MRI-guided biopsies, or surgical interventions such as robotic or radical prostatectomies. 

“We also need to see listing of new medicines more rapidly, so that families don’t have to pay between $10,000 and $40,000 for life-saving drugs.

“The very latest therapies available in the field of nuclear medicine, such as LuPSMA (Lutetium) treatment, cost around $10,000 per cycle and are not listed. Men typically need six cycles, which is out of reach for the average Australian family,” Ms Savage said.

“Very few people have access to that kind of money and we’ve seen people have to mortgage their house to pay for their treatment.

“It’s a sad reality that if those men aren’t diagnosed at the earliest stage, and they can’t afford the treatment, their options are very limited.”

To coincide with World Cancer Day on February 4 and Valentine’s Day on February 14, PCFA is calling on all Australians to plant a virtual Forget-Me-Not in PCFA’s Garden of Hope.

“Every dollar we can dedicate to research and life-saving services, such as Specialist Nursing, will return double its value to Australian families,” Ms Savage said.

“People can share the love and show they care by planting a virtual Forget-Me-Not in PCFA’s Valentine’s Day Garden of Hope, and help save the life of a man they love.”

Go to www.valentinesday.org.au to donate.

For support, or more information about PCFA, phone 1800 22 00 99 or visit www.pcfa.org.au.

ENDS

Media contact: Laura McKoy | M. 0435 094 788