Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has joined Prostate Cancer Research as an ambassador, to champion the charity’s campaign for the introduction of a national screening programme for high-risk men.
The announcement follows a recent visit made by Mr Sunak to the labs of Oxford BioDynamics, a pioneering British cancer diagnostics company, where he met the team behind its new EpiSwitch PSE blood test. This new test has been shown to detect prostate cancer with 94% accuracy: a significant improvement on the accuracy of the current most commonly used PSA test. At the Oxford labs Mr Sunak also met and spoke with several prostate cancer patients to hear their views on the importance of early detection and the need for a screening programme.
As a Prostate Cancer Research ambassador, Mr Sunak will be supporting the charity’s mission of advancing groundbreaking research and treatments to create a future where prostate cancer no longer impacts lives. This show of support from the former Prime Minister comes at a pivotal moment for Prostate Cancer Research, as the charity’s Proactive For Your Prostate campaign - calling for the immediate roll out of a targeted national screening programme for men at high risk, as well as investments in better diagnostic tools and AI to enable a future universal screening programme – continues to gather momentum.
Prostate cancer is now the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK. Roughly 1 in 8 men in the UK will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, with case numbers rising year on year. The PSE test is available privately across the UK through healthcare providers, including Goodbody Clinic and The London Clinic.
Rishi Sunak, MP for Richmond and Northallerton, said: “I am honoured to become an ambassador for Prostate Cancer Research and support the charity’s mission to revolutionise diagnosis and treatment. Men tend to ignore pain hoping it’ll go away rather than going to see the GP and that’s a part of the reason why prostate cancer is now the most commonly diagnosed cancer in males in the UK.
“We can do something about that. It is clear from a trial that I funded when I was in office, that early detection saves lives. Catching the cancer early drastically improved survival rates, however that survival rates drop by half if it’s caught late. A targeted national screening programme will help save many lives. Remarkable technological advances have made screening for prostate cancer easier and more effective.
“I hope my work as ambassador for Prostate Cancer Research will encourage more men to be able to speak about their experience with prostate cancer and get a screening test which will hopefully prevent further needless deaths.”
