Covid a step for cancer mission
The scientific collaboration that led to the development of Covid vaccines could be a blueprint for researchers to achieve zero deaths from breast cancer.
That’s the belief of the National Breast Cancer Foundation, which will reveal on Wednesday that funding this “collective focus” of researchers across the country will be key to its future investments.
CEO Associate Professor Cleola Anderiesz said during Covid, the world’s best researchers showed how quickly out- comes could be achieved when they worked together.
She said the same “teamwork” could now be used to achieve “zero deaths in breast cancer in Australia within five years”.
Releasing its 2024 Impact Report to coincide with its 30th anniversary, the NBCF says it has, in that time, invested $232m in 642 research projects. That money was raised with the support of more than one million donors.
Prof Anderiesz said since the not-for-profit was launched the death rate from breast cancer had reduced by more than 40 per cent and the five-year relative survival rate had improved to 92 per cent.
This latest report highlights that the focus will be on research that can help prevent, detect, stop and treat breast cancer, the leading killer of Australian women.
Prof Anderiesz said it was a strategy that would save lives, adding that nine people die of breast cancer every day in Australia and 20,000 a year are diagnosed with the disease.
In the past 30 years the NBCF has funded more than 1800 Australian researchers from 120 institutes to make discoveries that have helped reduce deaths from breast cancer.
These include Monash University’s Professor Melissa Southey and Associate Professor Tu Nguyen-Dumont, who have helped advance the understanding of genes associated with breast cancer risk.