Prostate Cancer Research has announced that former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has joined the charity as an ambassador.

Sunak, who currently serves as the MP for Richmond and Northallerton, will now be supporting Prostate Cancer Research’s campaign to introduce a national screening programme for high-risk men and helping the charity with its mission to advance research and treatments for the disease.

There is currently no national screening programme for prostate cancer in the UK, where over 55,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.

At-risk men with signs of prostate cancer may be offered a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test as the first method of diagnosis. However, this can miss some cancers and is associated with a very high number of false positives, causing patients who do not have the disease to undergo unnecessary biopsies and interventions.

Sunak said: “I am honoured to become an ambassador for Prostate Cancer Research and support the charity’s mission to revolutionise diagnosis and treatment… A targeted national screening programme will help save many lives. Remarkable technological advances have made screening for prostate cancer easier and more effective. I hope my work as ambassador for Prostate Cancer Research will encourage more men to be able to speak about their experience with prostate cancer and get a screening test that will hopefully prevent further needless deaths.”

Sunak’s involvement with the charity follows his February visit to the laboratories of Oxford BioDynamics, the British cancer diagnostics company behind a new highly-accurate prostate cancer blood test. The minimally-invasive EpiSwitch PSE test, currently only available privately in the UK, combines the PSA test with a DNA test and has been shown to detect prostate cancer with 94% accuracy.

Prostate Cancer Research’s chief executive officer, Oliver Kemp, said: “[Sunak’s] advocacy will help us drive forward innovative research, challenge health inequalities and ensure that more lives are saved. Oxford Biodynamics’ work on the EpiSwitch test is a prime example of the kind of groundbreaking innovation that could transform early detection and improve outcomes. By supporting research that brings real change to patients’ lives, we can create a future where a prostate cancer diagnosis is no longer something to fear.”

For more of the latest news on Clinical Trials, turn to page 6