Neglected cancers
What are neglected cancers?
Key statistics
37%
‘Rare’ and less common cancers together represent around 37% of all cancers diagnosed
All ages
‘Rare’ and less common cancers occur across all age groups
Mortality rate
The less common cancers have a much higher mortality rate than more common ones
1 in 2
Less common cancers account for 1 in 2 cancer deaths
Research into less common cancers at Garvan
Advances in medical and genomic research (looking at the interplay between all our genes together and with our habits and our environment) have improved our understanding of cancer so that cancers once defined by their location in the body, such as breast or skin, may now be categorised by harmful variations to their genetic structure. We now know that at a cellular level, common cancers are actually composed of multiple subtypes and that allows researchers and pharmaceutical companies to target specific medicines to these genetic abnormalities far more effectively.
Our neglected cancers research