Then-President Joe Biden took a photo at a White House ceremony in January 2025 and was diagnosed with what his office called the "aggressive form" of prostate cancer. chip somodevilla/getty image Closed subtitles
Former President Joe Biden's office announced Sunday that he was diagnosed with "aggressive" form of prostate cancer that has spread to the bones. But it says cancer seems to be hormone-sensitive and “can be managed effectively.”
According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the United States and can usually be treated successfully.
Its overall five-year survival rate is 97%, although that number is lower (37%) as the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
Dr. Ben Davies, professor of urology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, told NPR Morning version Biden “Its version is very bad, and it’s probably the worst version you can get.”
The most common grading system for prostate cancer is called the Gleason score, which involves studying tissue under a microscope to evaluate the growth rate of cancer cells (small, tight cells have lower grades). Scores range from 6 to 10, of which 8 or more are high-risk cancers.
Biden's office said his Gleason scored 9.
Although Davis doesn’t know exactly how Biden’s illness is, he said there are some good choices before the former president.
These include hormone therapy, such as injection Suppressing testosterone levels in his body to make the cancer "stop growing very quickly and can almost melt from the bones."
This can also be paired with chemotherapy, which is usually only used in advanced prostate cancer. The third option is radiation therapy, which Davis said “has been shown to extend the lifespan of patients diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer.”
"It's not doom and depression to be honest," Davis said. "He could live easily for 10 years through this disease."
Biden's office said he is working with doctors to review treatment options. Davis said Biden’s age is 82 and does not necessarily limit what’s on the desktop.
"It's not a specific age thing," he said. "It's more about physiology and how he accepts the therapy he gets."
He did point out that certain potential drugs can “increase certain vulnerable aspects of life.” Biden's physical and mental health has been the subject of rigorous scrutiny during his tenure, raising questions about the age and well-being of the former president, ultimately forcing him to abandon his reelection in 2024.
Biden thanked people for their support in his first public comment on Monday, writing: “Cancer moved us all.”
“Like many of you, Jill and I learned that we are the strongest in the broken place,” he tweeted along with the selfies of the couple and their cats.
The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates that in 2025, there will be about 313,780 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States and about 35,770 deaths.
It said in a statement that Biden's diagnosis was "a reminder of the tragic impact of the United States on prostate cancer in the United States, where about one in eight men will be diagnosed in their lifetime."
It added: "Although it is a highly survival disease that is in trouble early, it is the second leading cause of cancer death in men."
Although prostate cancer mortality has decreased by about half from 1993 to 2022, its decline has slowed in recent years, which may reflect the increase in later-stage cancers, ACS said.
Meanwhile, it said that the number of diagnosed cases has increased by 3% every year since 2014.
Risk factors for prostate cancer include age, race, and family history. Black and Caribbeans of African descent develop more frequently than other races, usually seen after the age of 50. ACS said 6 out of 10 prostate cancers were found in men over 65 years of age.
Screening for prostate cancer often involves blood tests and digital rectal tests, and guidelines vary.
ACS recommends 50 years old, 45 years old if they are at average risk, 40 years old if they are at high risk, and if they have more than one first-degree relative who has prostate cancer in the early stages.
The U.S. Preventive Service Task Force recommends screening for prostate cancer in men aged 55 to 69, while most older men should not be screened regularly.
This is partly because most prostate cancers found at that age are lazy: slow growth and don’t cause considerable pain, Davis said.
“If you screened a group of patients with prostate cancer in your 80s, you would … add unnecessary concerns to those patients,” he said. “So I’ll talk to your primary care physician about the implications, shortcomings and disadvantages of screening.”
Davies said that over the past decade, research has allowed significant progress in diagnosing and treating prostate cancer.
“Over the past 10 years, we have made significant gains in prostate cancer care in metastatic spaces and have indeed extended life span. ”
Biden himself has long been the champion of the battle against cancer, and the diagnosis for himself is personal: his son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015.
As vice president, Biden led the Cancer Satellite initiative, which brings federal resources together to accelerate progress in cancer research to “eliminate cancer as we know it” aims to reduce cancer mortality by at least 50% in 25 years. He re-launched the program in 2022 with the goal of "a decade of advances in prevention, diagnosis and treatment in five years".
On the other hand, the Trump administration has stifled federal scientific research funding by funding freezes, rule changes and cuts — which, researchers say, would hinder the fight against cancer and other diseases.
A report released last week by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee found that the White House cut cancer research by 31% in the first three months of the year compared to the same timeframe in 2024.
“We will only move towards prostate cancer care by providing careful and strong funding to scientific institutions, and I really hope that will continue,” Davis said. “It will lay the path to disease for people in the future.”