The current state of the world's search for cancer cure is no longer alien to us: it is advancing in a pace faster than we can imagine, though the cure remains elusive as always. Yet these advancements have changed how we view the fatal disease. Yes, cancer remains a deadly malady, one that can cost you both life and life savings, and something that can instil fear and anxiety. But thanks to biotech firms, we now face it with hope, a bigger and  more realistic one.

Like Us on Facebook

In 1970, Chicago Bears' running back Brian Piccolo died of germ cell testicular cancer due to inadequacies in cancer medicine at that time. If radical orchiectomy were already present during those days, Piccolo would have survived the disease. Testicular cancer is curable now.

Since this decade, survival rate for most common forms of cancer have doubled. In 2015, a study revealed that 39 to 68 percent are expected to survive at least five years, compared with 45.2 percent in 2010. This is quite a slow but momentous leap forward from the 1970s, which only had 23.7 percent survival rate for common cancers.

Lymphoma and leukaemia, which were considered highly fatal forty years ago, can now be cured by operation, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy. Bowel, breast, and prostate cancer are no longer met with great fear as it was in the past. The survival rate has increased by 70 percent from 20 percent in the early 1970s.

Despite many misconceptions about cancer therapies today, economic writer and policy analyst Stephen Moore believes that cancer survival rates are improving for everyone.

According to him, age-standardized breast cancer fatality rate for women has fallen by one-third over the past six decades. Children-killer cancers are now classified as manageable and curable if diagnosed early. Moore also argues that the improvements in air and water quality are an essential factor behind the radical decline in cancer death rates in the past 30 years. 

Indeed, cancer cases are growing every year. Not only in poor countries but also in countries with stable economy and better political systems like the US and the UK. In the 1900s, cancer and heart disease were both the cause of almost one-quarter of all deaths.  But now, unfortunately, they account for almost half of all illness-related fatalities across the globe.

"The reason cancer deaths have been on the rise over the last half century is because other maladies have been largely eradicated.  People used to die of typhoid fever, tuberculosis, influenza, and bronchitis-all diseases that were major killers and of children," Moore writes.

Thanks to globalization, cancer treatment advances in a rather swift manner. Because of left and right partnerships of global economies and international non-profit organizations, information dissemination has never been so fast and effective. Cancer's curability reached millions, and thus its formidability gradually decreased.

Moreover, billions of dollars have been dedicated particularly to finding the elusive cure. Various studies and medical undertakings are launched just to eradicate at least a specific cancer type, instilling hope to patients, as well as to those who follow the cancer treatment yarn. These advancements suppress the rapid growth of cancer cases, minimizing death at an impressive rate.

Among these cancer cure endeavors, the most agile is the biotech industry. The industry, which has grown significantly over the last two decades, will continue to grow and contribute to the cancer treatment search. Biotech giants Amgen and Regeneronwill continue to expand and delve into cancer research, as their emerging, smallish counterparts like Nascent Biotech, Inc. slowly make a name for themselves using novel methods.  

Everyone knows that cancer is fatal, a global concern, and the fastest growing and developing disease on earth. Everyone's aware that there will still be cancer in the future, and its complete eradication remains farfetched.

But what makes it less of a formidable disease now is the fact that everyone's aware of its actuality: yes, it is deadly, a rather unsolvable predicament, but the world never stops finding a solution to it. It sounds bittersweet, but it's better than believing and having nothing at all.

Tagsimmunotherapy, Cancer Cure, elusive cancer cure, Nascent Biotech, Amgen, Regeneron, cancer studies, cancer is curable, cancer is no longer the formidable illness