Rishi Sunak ‘honoured’ to change into prostate most cancers ambassador

Former prime minister Rishi Sunak has stated he’s “honoured” to change into a prostate most cancers charity ambassador.

He’ll help Prostate Most cancers Analysis’s marketing campaign to introduce a nationwide screening programme for males at excessive threat of the illness.

He met employees growing a brand new blood check on the laboratories of British most cancers diagnostics firm Oxford BioDynamics final week.

The EpiSwitch PSE check is claimed to have the ability to detect prostate most cancers with 94% accuracy, which the charity known as a “important enchancment” on probably the most generally used prostate-specific antigen check.

Former Conservative chief Sunak, who’s the MP for Richmond and Northallerton, stated he wished to “help the charity’s mission to revolutionise prognosis and therapy”.

“Males are likely to ignore ache hoping it’s going to go away moderately than going to see the GP, and that is part of the explanation why prostate most cancers is now probably the most generally identified most cancers in males within the UK,” he stated.

“We will do one thing about that. It’s clear from a trial that I funded after I was in workplace, that early detection saves lives.”

He added he hoped his work for the charity would encourage extra males to get a screening check “which is able to hopefully stop additional unnecessary deaths”.

Final month within the Home of Commons, he pressed the federal government to think about growing screenings for high-risk teams.

Iain Ross, government chairman of Oxford BioDynamics, stated greater than 9 out of 10 males who acquired a constructive EpiSwitch PSE outcome would have prostate most cancers confirmed.

This may “considerably reduce” the variety of “costly and pointless MRI scans” and invasive prostate biopsies, he added.

Oliver Kemp, chief government of Prostate Most cancers Analysis, known as Sunak’s help “invaluable”.

“Rishi’s advocacy will assist us drive ahead progressive analysis, problem well being inequalities, and be sure that extra lives are saved,” he added.