Commentary
William G. Morice II, MD, PhD
Matt Sause
April 2025—Cancer claims about 10 million lives every year. It is the second leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society. On World Cancer Day in February, these sobering statistics served as a powerful reminder of the scale of the disease’s impact and how it touches all our lives, directly or indirectly. And with cancer incidence set to rise dramatically, the fight is far from over.
The World Health Organization predicts a 60 percent rise in cancer cases globally in the next 20 years, driven by a combination of risk factors. In parallel, health systems are struggling to cope with an aging population, and we see uneven access across the globe to the quality health care that gives the best chance at survival.
Tackling this situation requires concerted, collaborative effort across continents, from governments, businesses, and institutions to policymakers and medical professionals. Diagnostics sit at the heart of this effort.
Advanced tests and instruments are already transforming how cancer is diagnosed and treated, whether via early intervention driven by blood-based biomarker testing or personalized treatments enabled by genomic profiling.
But their critical role is often overlooked—only three to five percent of health care budgets are spent on diagnostic services. Greater awareness and access are needed to unlock tailored treatment and save lives. The earlier a cancer can be detected, the more likely treatment is to be successful, and the costs and morbidity of treating late-stage or metastatic cancer are far higher than for early stage. Unfortunately, 50 percent of cancers are already at an advanced stage when diagnosed, and the data suggest that survival rates fall from 89 percent to 21 percent if a cancer is not detected early. We must do better.
This is what makes screening so crucial. We can learn from the success achieved with effective screening across cancer types, from mammography to prostate-specific antigen testing. The power of screening to save lives and tackle global health challenges is showcased in the WHO’s ambition to eliminate cervical cancer by 2030. The death rate for what was once the most common cause of cancer death for American women has dropped by more than half because of prevention and screening.
This is a significant achievement, but we are far from the finish line. Thousands of cervical cancer cases are still diagnosed annually, often in patients who have never or rarely been screened. Barriers such as limited access, lack of awareness, cost, and misinformation continue to hinder preventive efforts.
This is the result of a complex set of systemic issues that need to be addressed urgently. But how? Greater investment, better health education, culturally competent care, and targeted outreach all have a role to play in ensuring women receive timely and appropriate cervical cancer screening and treatment.
We can look to countries like Australia, on track to become the first country to eliminate cervical cancer as early as 2028, for an example of the path forward, one that combines the latest preventive tools and technologies with vaccination and education.
Commitment on the scale of the Quad Cancer Moonshot Initiative—an effort by the U.S., Australia, Japan, and India to eliminate cervical cancer—is crucial and to be commended, but efforts must also take place at a local level and closer to home. Strides made to enable HPV self-collection solutions in the U.S. in the past 12 months will reduce barriers and widen access. It’s an approach that not only empowers women but also has the potential to increase participation in screening programs.
Increasingly, digital pathology is also bridging access gaps.
By leveraging technology and sharing digital slides instantly across locations, we can reach more patients through a combination of remote consultation, second opinions, and teaching across time zones. With the advances in machine learning and other artificial intelligence, we are able to make accurate pathology diagnosis more scalable and detect other changes in the body earlier and with greater specificity through advanced pattern recognition and image analysis. And this is just the start—we expect to see greater collaboration and integration with precision medicine to enable more personalized cancer treatment and better outcomes.
While diagnostics are most often associated with prevention or early intervention, they are also transforming how cancer is treated at an individual level. Our greater understanding of cancer biology and genomic drivers has ushered in an era of personalized treatment. With every additional oncological biomarker we identify, cancer treatment becomes more precise and potentially more tolerable.
Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, cancer treatment is becoming more targeted and personalized, made possible by innovative technologies such as comprehensive genomic profiling, companion diagnostics, and big data processing. For example, recent research into the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer informed by comprehensive genomic profiling has shown greater use of matched therapies and significant increases in survival rates. But every cancer patient should benefit from these innovations, and there is a long way to go to integrate comprehensive genomic profiling into routine patient care and expand access to local laboratories.
Diagnostics play a fundamental role in fighting cancer from the earliest diagnosis to targeted treatment, and we need now to eliminate barriers to access and boost investment. Cancer care and outcomes shouldn’t be determined by where or how you live.
For many people, the promise of early detection or personalized care remains just that—a promise. We need long-term political and financial commitment to make cancer care a reality for all. Achieving this requires partnerships across industry, medical institutions, advocacy groups, and policymakers to drive meaningful change.
With the collaboration and commitment of all stakeholders, we can reshape health care around proactivity and prevention—and realize our shared purpose of helping people live better, healthier, and longer lives.
Dr. Morice is president and CEO of Mayo Clinic Laboratories and professor of laboratory medicine and pathology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. Matt Sause is CEO of Roche Diagnostics.
The views expressed in commentaries published in CAP TODAY are not necessarily those of CAP TODAY or the College of American Pathologists.
How diagnostics are reshaping the fight against cancer
Commentary
William G. Morice II, MD, PhD
Matt Sause
April 2025—Cancer claims about 10 million lives every year. It is the second leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society. On World Cancer Day in February, these sobering statistics served as a powerful reminder of the scale of the disease’s impact and how it touches all our lives, directly or indirectly. And with cancer incidence set to rise dramatically, the fight is far from over.
The World Health Organization predicts a 60 percent rise in cancer cases globally in the next 20 years, driven by a combination of risk factors. In parallel, health systems are struggling to cope with an aging population, and we see uneven access across the globe to the quality health care that gives the best chance at survival.
Tackling this situation requires concerted, collaborative effort across continents, from governments, businesses, and institutions to policymakers and medical professionals. Diagnostics sit at the heart of this effort.
Advanced tests and instruments are already transforming how cancer is diagnosed and treated, whether via early intervention driven by blood-based biomarker testing or personalized treatments enabled by genomic profiling.
But their critical role is often overlooked—only three to five percent of health care budgets are spent on diagnostic services. Greater awareness and access are needed to unlock tailored treatment and save lives. The earlier a cancer can be detected, the more likely treatment is to be successful, and the costs and morbidity of treating late-stage or metastatic cancer are far higher than for early stage. Unfortunately, 50 percent of cancers are already at an advanced stage when diagnosed, and the data suggest that survival rates fall from 89 percent to 21 percent if a cancer is not detected early. We must do better.
This is what makes screening so crucial. We can learn from the success achieved with effective screening across cancer types, from mammography to prostate-specific antigen testing. The power of screening to save lives and tackle global health challenges is showcased in the WHO’s ambition to eliminate cervical cancer by 2030. The death rate for what was once the most common cause of cancer death for American women has dropped by more than half because of prevention and screening.
This is a significant achievement, but we are far from the finish line. Thousands of cervical cancer cases are still diagnosed annually, often in patients who have never or rarely been screened. Barriers such as limited access, lack of awareness, cost, and misinformation continue to hinder preventive efforts.
This is the result of a complex set of systemic issues that need to be addressed urgently. But how? Greater investment, better health education, culturally competent care, and targeted outreach all have a role to play in ensuring women receive timely and appropriate cervical cancer screening and treatment.
We can look to countries like Australia, on track to become the first country to eliminate cervical cancer as early as 2028, for an example of the path forward, one that combines the latest preventive tools and technologies with vaccination and education.
Commitment on the scale of the Quad Cancer Moonshot Initiative—an effort by the U.S., Australia, Japan, and India to eliminate cervical cancer—is crucial and to be commended, but efforts must also take place at a local level and closer to home. Strides made to enable HPV self-collection solutions in the U.S. in the past 12 months will reduce barriers and widen access. It’s an approach that not only empowers women but also has the potential to increase participation in screening programs.
Increasingly, digital pathology is also bridging access gaps.
By leveraging technology and sharing digital slides instantly across locations, we can reach more patients through a combination of remote consultation, second opinions, and teaching across time zones. With the advances in machine learning and other artificial intelligence, we are able to make accurate pathology diagnosis more scalable and detect other changes in the body earlier and with greater specificity through advanced pattern recognition and image analysis. And this is just the start—we expect to see greater collaboration and integration with precision medicine to enable more personalized cancer treatment and better outcomes.
While diagnostics are most often associated with prevention or early intervention, they are also transforming how cancer is treated at an individual level. Our greater understanding of cancer biology and genomic drivers has ushered in an era of personalized treatment. With every additional oncological biomarker we identify, cancer treatment becomes more precise and potentially more tolerable.
Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, cancer treatment is becoming more targeted and personalized, made possible by innovative technologies such as comprehensive genomic profiling, companion diagnostics, and big data processing. For example, recent research into the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer informed by comprehensive genomic profiling has shown greater use of matched therapies and significant increases in survival rates. But every cancer patient should benefit from these innovations, and there is a long way to go to integrate comprehensive genomic profiling into routine patient care and expand access to local laboratories.
Diagnostics play a fundamental role in fighting cancer from the earliest diagnosis to targeted treatment, and we need now to eliminate barriers to access and boost investment. Cancer care and outcomes shouldn’t be determined by where or how you live.
For many people, the promise of early detection or personalized care remains just that—a promise. We need long-term political and financial commitment to make cancer care a reality for all. Achieving this requires partnerships across industry, medical institutions, advocacy groups, and policymakers to drive meaningful change.
With the collaboration and commitment of all stakeholders, we can reshape health care around proactivity and prevention—and realize our shared purpose of helping people live better, healthier, and longer lives.
Dr. Morice is president and CEO of Mayo Clinic Laboratories and professor of laboratory medicine and pathology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. Matt Sause is CEO of Roche Diagnostics.
The views expressed in commentaries published in CAP TODAY are not necessarily those of CAP TODAY or the College of American Pathologists.
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