Why haven't they found a cure for cancer yet?

Answer 1

They can't even cure the common cold

Answer 2

There are over 200 different types of cancer and the majority of them can be treated . . and the treatment leads to a cure. The problem is not that there isn't a 'cure' for cancer . . the problem is metastatic cancer . . this is advanced cancer that has taken on the ability to replicate itself indefinitely and send copies of itself throughout the body. All cancer will eventually metastasize if left untreated. Some cancers are slow growing and some cancers are extremely aggressive and fast moving . . thus the reason a 'cure' all may not be possible is because all these cancers are extremely complicated.

The earlier a cancer is diagnosed the better chances almost anyone has to be 'cured' . . the proof is in all the survivors we have around us today. What people who do not have cancer or have never dealt with cancer directly do not understand is that it is stage IV or advanced, metastatic cancer which remains elusive to 'cure' . . most people who don't understand cancer just think that it is all the same. They do not realize that cancer is a progressive disease which if caught early enough . . can often be 'cured' through treatment. It is the late or advanced stages of cancer that are more difficult to find a 'cure' for . . because the cancer has spread throughout the body. Thus, treatment must include the entire body and at that point the body may not be able to handle treatment effectively.

Consideration must also be given to just how exactly do you think that medical science finds 'cures'? For some reason people unfamiliar with cancer just think that someone mixes up chemicals in a lab somewhere and . . viola . . there is a cure! Well, guess what . . because medicine needs to be used on human beings . . it needs to be tested for safety . . and dosages . .and it needs to tested to see if it works or not. This means TRIAL and ERROR . . all meds . . all treatment must be done on human beings who have cancer. If the treatment works than it is investigated further . . if it fails than the treatment is abandoned (take a guess what happens to a patient whose trial fails). To complicate things even further . . some meds and treatment works for some types of cancer but fails with others . .and some meds work for early stages but not in later stages of cancer. Only trial and error for hundreds of different types of cancers and different stages can we find treatments that will work. Consider also during all the trial and error . . that we use patients who have advanced cancer and no other options. These patients may not survive long enough to find a drug that works for them . . so the researcher needs to keep finding patients to try the treatments on . .making it even more difficult to establish whether a treatment is effective or not. I know all this because my son has a rare cancer and this is what we need to do to find effective treatment for him. There is no known protocol that will treat his disease.

Your question . . really . . does not take any of these facts into consideration . . that cancer is not one disease . .that cancer is a progressive disease . . that there are 'cures' from treatment for many types of cancer . . that cures are possible in early cancer . . that metastatic cancer is deadly. So, your question is too simplistic to be adequately answered on this type of forum.

Answer 3

It's important to know the difference between what is meant by "cure" .
We should be searching for healing. Cure is the method, that is, drugs or chemotherapy, used to treat the symptoms, and give a bit more time.
Healing is restoring to health, by addressing the cause.
While the focus is on shrinking cancer cells, rather than changing ones diet , attitude, or lifestyle, no "cure" will be found.

Answer 4

Cancer is hundreds of diseases, not just one. The difficulty is that different cancers are caused by different things, so no one strategy can prevent them, and different cancers respond to different treatments so no one treatment can cure them all

Some cancers can be cured these days though. Cancer Research UK says that 7 out of 10 children are cured of cancer. Testicular cancer, Hodgkin's disease, and many cases of leukaemia can all be cured in adults with chemotherapy, most skin cancers are cured with surgery, and many cases of thyroid cancer and cancer of the larynx are cured with radiotherapy.

Many other types of cancer are also cured if they are found early enough - 75% of breast cancers that are found very early - at stage one - for example. There is still a long way to go, especially with some of the commonest types of cancer such as lung, breast, bowel and prostate cancer.

Many people – invariably those who have not had cancer or been close to it - have pet theories about what causes and prevents it, and how to treat it. Existing treatments - chemotherapy and radiotherapy - are not perfect, far from it, but we know, because they have been clinically tested and proven, that they save some lives and extend many others.

Meanwhile there is much research going on in all types of cancer to try and find a cures- dedicated hard work by those same people who some suggest are conspiring to hide a cure


There is no conspiracy to hide or prevent a cancer cure in order to maximise profits. The conspiracy theory is an urban myth, a sort of game played by those who have not had cancer or close experience of it.

Think about it, if there were such a conspiracy:

*whoever discovered the cure would be keeping quiet, even though it would bring them fame and fortune. Any drug company discovering a cure would make more money than they can have dreamed of making up till now.

*every medical professional in the whole world would have agreed to keep the cure secret. Every single one. One blabbermouth, one disgruntled researcher or sacked nurse and the whole conspiracy’s blown.

*the thousands of people who would have to have been cured by it in order to prove it worked would be keeping quiet about it too. Newspapers and other media wouldn't have got a sniff of it.

*doctors, scientist, researchers etc would be watching their relatives die and dying themselves (they and their families develop cancer at the same rate as the rest of the population) even though they knew of a cure

Answer 5

Cancer is especially hard to kill because cancer cells are actually the person's own cells, but they have just gone haywire. Because they are the person's own cells, the body's immune system doesn't handle cancer like it handles other diseases. Cancer cells are incredibly fast-growing and they can spread to other parts of the body. Very difficult to treat. Actually we have some treatments now, especially for some cancers, that are very effective. Hopefully in the future these will get better and better.

Answer 6

There is no money in curing things, but there is a great deal of money in treating the symptoms. Just look at how much money every pharmaceutical company makes for every pill they make and this in tum provides more tax money for the government to collect.

For instance: a car engine is made of aluminum and steel, made to break because the industry does not make their money selling the car, they make their money in fixing it time and time again. If the engine block was made of tungsten carbide (only able to be scratched by a diamond with an FCC grain structure - the hardest known substance to man) and the pistons were made of Titanium or even just coated with titanium, the block of an engine would never, ever need replacement. Yes it would cost more, but...

Answer 7

because the medical community is extremely stubborn and generally refuses to consider new forms of treatment that does not follow conventional lines, they are scared to death of crossing the line which might produce a civil siut aganst them which can bankrupt a small clinic. its not a lack of science or will, but a system that has been corrupted by greed by both patients and more specifically by medicine as practised in the usa. its a problem that does not occur in other western countries.

Answer 8

they havent made enough money off of all the kemo therapy yet. and once they do, they will release the cure for millions of dollars.. sad. but its the truth. they have the cure at this moment.. same thing with aids,look at magic johnson, he got aids in like the 80's or 90's, and he is the healthiest looking person on tv.. its all about money.

Answer 9

They are finding something new about cancer everyday. I think someday that they will be saving alot more lifes.

Answer 10

because all of the money is in treating the disease not curing it