Breakthrough Cancer Therapies Turn Many Deadly Tumors Into Treatable Diseases

Humanity has moved significantly closer to overcoming cancer, according to Professor Alexander Seryakov, MD, PhD, Director of the Oncology Center at SM-Clinic. He says that over the past 10-15 years, many forms of cancer have evolved from a fatal diagnosis into chronic conditions or diseases that can be completely cured. Cancer Care Has Undergone a Revolution "Oncology has experienced a true revolution," Seryakov said. "In Russia, the proportion of patients who have beaten cancer or remained in remission for more than five years increased from 52.9% in 2015 to 60.1% in 2024. One-year mortality has fallen to a historic low of 16.7%, while early-stage detection has reached 61.4%. For medicine, this represents an enormous breakthrough." He highlighted metastatic melanoma as one of the clearest examples of progress. Once considered almost impossible to treat, it now has a five-year survival rate of about 60% thanks to modern immunotherapy. When diagnosed at Stage I, recovery is achieved in 90-95% of patients, while melanoma detected at the in situ stage is considered fully curable.