Our Impact

Saving Lives

Saving Lives

For 25 years, the Prostate Cancer Foundation has used a laser-like strategy to save more people from cancer death and suffering. While the journey to a cure isn’t over, we have made significant progress towards our goal.

A 52% Reduction in Death Rate
from Prostate Cancer

When the Prostate Cancer Foundation was founded, the death rate from prostate cancer was on the rise. In 1993, 39,400 men  died from the disease in the United States, and investment in research for treatment was extremely low, at $27 million in federal funding.

-52%

Today, the death rate has
been fully cut in half.

the philanthropic leader in funding prostate cancer research

PCF remains the international philanthropic leader in funding prostate cancer research, thanks in part to the over 875,000 donations from those who have generously supported the cause. 25 years later, we can estimate that 1.5 million more men are alive today thanks to innovations in research and treatment, funded by the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Why might one person respond better to cancer treatment than another?

See how Chris’ PSA went from 200 down to 1 in just 5 months.

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The Miracle of
Exceptional Responders

Scientists can learn a lot from patients who respond not just well but extraordinarily well to treatment.  These exceptional responders – that is, patients whose cancer goes from very advanced to veritably gone using a single treatment regimen – can give doctors a window into why a particular treatment works, allowing them to duplicate that treatment for other patients with similar characteristics. Scientists are beginning to realize that people’s unique genetic fingerprint influences their treatment response.  PCF funded researchers have been studying these exceptional responders for over a decade, leading the charge in the movement to bring precision medicine into the forefront of treatment for prostate and other cancers.

The End of Prostate Cancer

In the past 25 years since PCF was founded, deaths from prostate cancer have dropped by 52%. Still, in 2017, 26,730 men died of prostate cancer. At PCF, we think that’s 26,730 men too many. With the help of better screening and targeted treatments we may be able to end all death from prostate cancer within the next 5 years. Because you’ve probably heard these kinds of promises before, and because it may sound a bit like science fiction, we wanted to show you precisely how, with enough funding, we plan to do it.

How to Eradicate Prostate Cancer

Better Prevention Strategies

20-30%

VERY EARLY DETECTION

15-20%

Drug Discoveries & Development

INVESTIGATIONAL AND LIFESTYLE THERAPY

15-20%

CURES FOR THE INCURABLE

5-10%

MORE PRECISE CURATIVE LOCAL THERAPY WITH LOWER SIDE EFFECTS

25-30%

Better Prevention Strategies

In medical terms, prevention means keeping “unstable” pre-cancerous cells from going rogue. In layman’s terms, it may someday translate to precision nutrition, such as “avoid dairy to prevent mutation in this gene,” or “eat broccoli to protect your DNA” or “feed your prostate protective bacteria in your microbiome.” PCF is actively studying how genes combine with environmental factors to increase risk, so that we can ultimately reduce it.

VERY EARLY DETECTION

Early detection and early interception require precision screening – knowing when your personal risk factors warrant screening. But other early interventions are also on our radar. Could there be a vaccine for prostate cancer the same way we now have a vaccine for HPV? Can we use the PSMA protein to detect prostate cancer years earlier? And lastly - and this is going to sound wacky – can dogs be trained to sniff out the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in prostate cancer, and can we build a robotic detection device (think: bomb sniffer) from their results? Honestly, if we get the detection problem right, it could be game over for almost all prostate cancer right there.

INVESTIGATIONAL AND LIFESTYLE THERAPY

Thanks in large part to research funded by PCF, new investigational treatments are available for over half of men with metastatic prostate cancer. PARP inhibitors, checkpoint immunotherapy, and PSMA-targeted radionuclide therapy are just three of the strategies on the horizon for men with advanced disease.

CURES FOR THE INCURABLE

Since 1993, PCF has doubled the life expectancy, three times over, for men with even the most aggressive metastatic disease. But for about 7% of men with advanced prostate cancer, scientists have not yet unraveled the mystery of why their disease is doesn't respond to treatment. This is the work at hand. Where a cure is not yet possible, we continue to develop life-extending treatments in a race against time for every man with prostate cancer.

MORE PRECISE CURATIVE LOCAL THERAPY WITH LOWER SIDE EFFECTS

New treatments for men who are diagnosed are improving every year with things like robotic surgery, and stereotactic body radiation therapy. But there’s more. The goal isn’t just to rid men of prostate cancer and keep them alive – it’s to continue to refine treatment so that we ensure that they return to the same bladder and sexual function that they had before treatment.

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