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U.S. Cancer Survival Reaches 70% in New ACS Report

ACS warns recent research funding cuts plus insurance changes could jeopardize continued progress.

Dr. Christian Hinrichs (R), an investigator at the National Cancer Institute in immunotherapy for HPV+ cancers, shows patient Fred Janick, a survivor of metastatic cancer, the difference between his CT scan showing cancerous tumors (R) and a clean scan after treatment (L), after a day of medical exams showing no recurrence of cancer, at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, February 8, 2018. Experimental trials are ongoing at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, a US government-funded research hospital where doctors are trying to partially replace patients' immune systems with T-cells that would specifically attack cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted infection. A person's T-cells will naturally try to kill off any invader, including cancer, but usually fall short because tumors can mutate, hide, or simply overpower the immune system. Immunotherapies that have seen widespread success, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) cell therapies, mainly target blood cancers like lymphoma, myeloma and leukemia, which have a tumor antigen -- like a flag or a signal -- on the surface of the cells so it is easy for immune cells to find and target the harmful cells. But many common cancers lack this clear, surface signal. Hinrichs' approach focuses on HPV tumors because they contain viral antigens that the immune system can easily recognize. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
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New national data show the overall five-year cancer survival rate has reached 70%. Dr. Todd Ellerin from South Shore Health discuss what’s driving the gains and prevention steps.
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Overview

  • Five-year survival for distant-stage cancers has doubled since the mid-1990s to 35%, with regional lung cancer survival rising to 37% and distant-stage lung to 10%.
  • Survival gains are especially strong in historically lethal cancers, including myeloma (62% vs. 32% in the mid-1990s), liver (22% vs. 7%) and lung (28% vs. 15%).
  • ACS projects 2,114,850 new diagnoses and 626,140 deaths in 2026, with lung cancer expected to cause more deaths than colorectal and pancreatic cancers combined.
  • Cancer mortality has fallen 34% since 1991, averting an estimated 4.8 million deaths, attributed to reduced smoking, earlier detection and more effective treatments.
  • Progress remains uneven, with American Indian and Alaska Native people experiencing the highest mortality and Black Americans facing higher death rates for several cancers, as a reported 31% drop in early-2025 research grants and potential insurance subsidy changes threaten access and innovation.