Cancer funding: handful of deadliest – colorectal, lung – receive least from non-profits, study says

Cancers including colorectal, ovarian and lung are all poorly funded given how often they occur and how many people they kill, researchers say

One doctor suggests it may be because some of them carry a stigma, or involve body parts that people feel embarrassed discussing

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Lung cancer was one of the cancer types that is poorly funded given how many people it kills a year, a new study has found. Photo: Alamy

Published: 1:00am, 24 Jul 2019Updated: 2:45am, 24 Jul 2019

Some of the deadliest cancers – such as colorectal, ovarian and lung – receive the lowest amounts of non-profit funding, according to a new study in the US by health-care provider Northwestern Medicine.

The researchers found that breast cancer, leukaemia, paediatric cancers and lymphoma were the best funded, in terms of annual revenue generated by non-profit organisations dedicated to cancer awareness, support and research.

Meanwhile, colorectal, pancreatic, ovarian, cervical, endometrial, brain and lung cancers were all poorly funded, considering how frequently they occur and/or how many people they kill.

The study’s authors found little connection between how common a cancer is and how much non-profit funding is dedicated to it. They found no links between the number of deaths a cancer causes and its funding levels.

The study was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

Cancer funding: handful of deadliest – colorectal, lung – receive least from non-profits, study says

Cancers including colorectal, ovarian and lung are all poorly funded given how often they occur and how many people they kill, researchers say One doctor suggests it may be because some of them carry a stigma, or involve body parts that people feel embarrassed discussing

Cancers including colorectal, ovarian and lung are all poorly funded given how often they occur and how many people they kill, researchers say

One doctor suggests it may be because some of them carry a stigma, or involve body parts that people feel embarrassed discussing