UK government increases funds for prostate cancer

LONDON (Reuters) -- The British government announced a four-fold increase on Wednesday in funding for prostate cancer research to help diagnose and treat a disease that kills 9,500 men a year.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn said men with suspected prostate cancer will be able to see a specialist within two weeks of being referred by their general practitioner, an extra 95 urologists will be brought into the NHS by 2005, and better information will be made available to both doctors and patients.

"For too long not enough has been done to detect prostate cancer or to improve the treatment of men diagnosed with it," Milburn said in a statement.

"The NHS Prostate Cancer Program launched today will mean a four-fold increase in the funding of prostrate cancer research. By 2004 the Department (of Health) will be directly funding 4.2 million pounds of research a year."

The prostate is the male sex gland, producing secretions to nourish sperm. It is located under the bladder and cancerous growths can make urination difficult, though not all men with the disease will develop symptoms.

Prostate cancer kills about 9,500 men a year in Britain, according to the Institute of Cancer Research, yet polls commissioned by the organization show the average man knows more about breast cancer than prostate cancer.

About 20,000 men a year are diagnosed with the disease -- the majority of them aged over 60 -- and the Institute says that by 2018 prostate cancer will have overtaken both lung and breast cancer to become the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK.

Not all prostate cancer is life-threatening and some of the new government money will be used to improve screening techniques to make diagnosis easier.

Milburn said a nationwide screening program will be introduced "if and when" techniques develop enough to distinguish between the life-threatening and lesser form of the cancer.

Welcoming the increase in government funding, the director-general of the Cancer Research Campaign, Professor Gordon McVie, called it a "red letter day" for men.

"Prostate cancer has been disgracefully neglected by the NHS and government research funds -- until now," he said.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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