Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, for this opportunity.
As you're aware, nearly half of all Canadians will develop cancer at some point in their lifetime and of these, lung cancer is the most common cancer in Canada. It's by far the biggest cause of cancer deaths in Canada and worldwide. In 2012, the WHO reported that lung cancer is the fifth-leading cause of mortality worldwide after ischemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and pneumonia. In Canada this year we expect over 26,000 cases of lung cancer and nearly 21,000 deaths. To put that in context, the four most common cancers in Canada are lung cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer, but lung cancer will kill more Canadians than those other three combined.
We don't usually think of lung cancer as a woman's cancer, but lung cancer will kill more women in Canada than will breast cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, and uterine cancer combined. In other words, it's a major cause of morbidity and mortality in this country, and as has been widely reported, the Canadian Cancer Society is predicting that overall the number of cancer cases is going to increase by up to 40% over the next 15 years, not due to an increase in individual risk but rather given an increase in the Canadian population and the aging of the population.
Unfortunately with lung cancer, the vast majority of patients are diagnosed when their cancer is already at an advanced and incurable stage. As a result of that, we see that lung cancer has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers. Currently about 18% of patients with lung cancer survive five years after their diagnosis. That being said, there are some real grounds for optimism in the treatment of lung cancer. The first one I would bring to your attention is that lung cancer screening strategies to identify lung cancer at an earlier stage in individuals who are yet to develop symptoms may reduce lung cancer mortality by up to 20%. That would represent around 1,250 lives a year saved in Canada.
We are seeing other advances. The molecular profiling of lung cancers means that we can now identify, if you like, a genetic fingerprint of a cancer. We recognize that lung cancer is not just one disease but a myriad of a number of different subtypes and for many of those, we now have a drug that can target the particular type. A little bit later you're going to hear from Colonel Jacques Ricard, who is a physician in the Canadian Forces as well as a lung cancer patient and a beneficiary of one of these new molecularly targeted agents.
Very recently we've been hearing in the news about immunotherapy as the most exciting advance in lung cancer treatment for some years. The immune system for all of us depends on multiple checkpoints or immunological breaks, and they work to prevent your immune system from over-activating and attacking your own healthy cells. Cancer cells have learned to take advantage of those checkpoints to avoid detection by your own immune system. These new-generation immunotherapy drugs affect these checkpoints, essentially unleashing the breaks to attack the lung cancer cells. We've had some very positive news just in the last couple of weeks about a new drug that's already had FDA accelerated approval in the States and we'd like to see it coming to Canada as soon as possible.
You may hear from Dr. Pantarotto, my colleague and also a radiation oncologist, about some of the new and exciting technologies for delivering radiotherapy for very focused and precise treatments. There is optimism, but that optimism is in the context of a disease that is extremely deadly.
Dr. Leighl and I both volunteer for an organization called Lung Cancer Canada in addition to performing our clinical and academic roles. Lung Cancer Canada is a national charitable organization that aims to increase awareness, patient support, advocacy for the families of patients with lung cancer. We're hoping, and have been engaging with members from the federal government over the last year or two, to try to develop some programs.
That leads me to what we would like to see as a possible role for the federal government in lung cancer. We would respectfully ask the standing committee to seek ways federally to support lung cancer. For example, provide leadership in raising awareness about a deadly disease and in tackling stigma, which Dr. Leighl will talk about, while continuing to work towards a smoke-free Canada. Collaborate with organizations such as Lung Cancer Canada in developing lung cancer programs for the populations that the federal government is responsible for. You'll hear a little bit later from Dr. Stephen Lam from British Columbia about a potential screening program for veterans.
We would ask you to consider giving guidance to Health Canada, CIHR, and the Public Health Agency of Canada to provide proportionate research funding. You will hear a little bit from Dr. Leighl again about our concerns around the disproportional assistance that lung cancer receives. We would like to see Health Canada give regulatory approval to lung cancer drugs.
Anecdotally, we feel that lung cancer doesn't get the same attention as some other cancers and illnesses. We would ask you to consider using some examples from perhaps the U.S. In 2013 the high mortality cancer bill was passed. It focuses primarily on cancers with high mortality rates, primarily lung cancer and pancreatic cancer.
Those are my comments. Thank you for the time.
I'll now pass it over to Dr. Leighl.