Cancer death rates continue to decline

There are more cancer survivors in the U.S than ever before due to advances in cancer research.

That’s according to a new report from the American Association for cancer research.

Cancer death rates continue to fall – with the decline being driven by new treatments and improved screenings.

Death rates have been falling over the past two decades, and in recent years – there has been an extremely sharp decline.
As a result, there are now more than 18-million cancer survivors in the U.S, that’s up from three million in 1971.
The FDA approved the first immune checkpoint inhibitor in 2011 and has since approved eight other immune checkpoint inhibitors for 18 types of cancer, according to the report.
The agency has approved seven other cancer therapeutics in the past year – including the first drug to treat u-veal melanoma – the most common form of eye cancer in adults.
It also expanded the use of 10 existing drugs to other cancers.
Researchers say detecting the disease as early as possible is still a key factor in cutting cancer death rates.