Rishi Sunak becomes prostate cancer ambassador
Rishi Sunak's official portrait as UK Prime Minister.
Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has joined Prostate Cancer Research as an ambassador for the charity's campaign to introduce a national screening programme for men at high risk of the disease.
The announcement follows a visit to UK biotech Oxford BioDynamics, which is developing a new blood test that it believes will be more effective than the current option based on measuring serum levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA).
On its own, PSA measurement is not accurate enough to tell for certain if a man has prostate cancer or not, so it has to be backed up by additional tests, including a biopsy, that puts them at risk of complications like pain and infection.
That failing is why a national screening programme has so far been impossible. However, Prostate Cancer Research thinks new developments like Oxford BioDynamics' EpiSwitch PSE blood test – which has been shown to detect prostate cancer with 94% accuracy and reduce the need for biopsies by 50% – mean that it is now feasible.
The test – which combines PSA and DNA testing – is the culmination of a 10-year collaboration between Imperial College, Imperial NHS Trust, the University of East Anglia, and the company. It is already available to patients in the UK through private prescription and is covered by Medicare and private health insurers in the US.
Prostate Cancer Research said that Sunak's support "comes at a critical time as our Proactive For Your Prostate campaign continues to gain momentum – calling for the immediate rollout of a targeted national screening programme for men at high risk, alongside investment in advanced diagnostics and AI to enable universal screening in the future."
"Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, yet too many cases are diagnosed too late," it said in a Facebook post that noted that one in eight men will face the disease in their lifetime, with the risk rising to one in four for Black men.
"Early detection is crucial – it saves lives and reduces pressure on the NHS by making treatment more effective and accessible at earlier stages," said the charity. "Now is the time for action. We must ensure all men have the best possible chance of survival."
Sunak, who remains MP for Richmond and Northallerton after losing the 2024 election, said he was "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."
