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Richard Simcock: Can we imagine a world with no cancer deaths?

Richard Simcock/LinkedIn

Nov 18, 2024, 15:20

Richard Simcock: Can we imagine a world with no cancer deaths?

Richard Simcock, Chief Medical Officer at Macmillan Cancer Support, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Can we imagine a world with no cancer deaths?

AstraZeneca asked several people to do just that with their Project Zero campaign which launched in London this week.

The team produced a set of short essays (link at the bottom) from a variety of contributors including Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham, Prof Charles Swanton, Professor Frank Chinegwundoh MBE, Anna Jewell, Prof Alastair Greystoke, David Fredrickson and Michelle Mitchell OBE. We came together in London to discuss the work.

Essayists looked to brighter futures informed by genomics and powered by research and AI. Prof Rebecca Fitzgerald even produced an oesophageal cancer screening tool from a small pocket, but in all of our discussions we came back to the inequity of now. There are innovations that can currently change cancer that are not available to all.

Worse than that, there are standard therapies that don’t reach everyone. We could arguably make the biggest difference to cancer survival if we just ensured that everyone got access to the best of care and current knowledge.

At Macmillan Cancer Support we recognise that there is unacceptable variation in care, and we don’t believe that getting the right care should depend on who you are or where in the UK you live. Panellists agreed that a Cancer Plan is a step in the right direction.

In my essay I also highlight that the drive to ‘zero’ from precision medicine approaches is likely to increase the number of people affected by cancer who rely on chronic therapies. How we approach and support those people to live their lives free as much as possible from the tyranny of treatment is a new challenge.

Whatever research and science brings us we can never forget the imperative of a person-centred approach.

Essays here.”

More posts featuring Richard Simcock.