The fight against cancer, the next generation:

According to Prof. Gadi Rennert, the solution lies in taking one medicine per day (instead of changing the lifestyle) and biological characterization with the help of which a "personal prevention suit" can be sewn

The efforts to prevent cancer, which were based for years on trying to change the behavior of the individual or the population, have exhausted themselves, says Prof. Gadi Rennert, an expert in the fight against cancer. In the future, according to him, cancer will be fought by giving preventive medicines to healthy people who are at risk of getting sick - and by means of a personal prevention plan based on a personal genetic profile.

Prof. Rennert presented his thesis at the third international conference on public health policy. The conference began yesterday, at the initiative of the National Institute for Research on Health Services and Health Policy, which was held this week in Jerusalem.

Prof. Rennert is the director of the National Center for Cancer Control in General Health Services, a member of the Department of Community Medicine and Epidemiology at the Carmel Medical Center, a member of the Faculty of Medicine. Reporter at the Technion and advisor to the Cancer Prevention Association.

Prof. Gadi Rennert: "The cancer incidence rate in most countries of the world has been rising steadily for many years, and the mortality rate has changed but little over the years. It is widely estimated that in the Western countries, 30% of cancer mortality is associated with exposure to smoking, about 30%-40% to poor dietary habits, lack of physical activity, excess calories and obesity resulting from them, another 10% to exposure to internal and external hormones, about 10% For hereditary factors and the remaining risk for biological factors such as exposure to viruses, environmental factors such as exposure to ionizing radiation and occupational exposures to carcinogens."

"While we are witnessing therapeutic breakthroughs, there is no doubt that the most logical way to deal with cancer is through primary prevention. Prevention efforts were based for years on trying to bring about a behavioral change in the individual or the population. It seems that these efforts are close to being exhausted in many populations in the world. This is manifested, for example, in high rates of smoking, which do not tend to decrease, or in the high rates of obesity despite considerable professional effort."

"Therefore, new approaches to prevention are currently being developed, although there is still no proof that they will lead to better results. One approach promotes the use of drug prevention, that is, giving preventive drugs to healthy people without symptoms. A second approach promotes the use of a personal prevention plan based on a personal biological (genetic) profile."

"Pharmaceutical prevention can improve nutritional deficiencies by giving certain supplements or using drugs with known cancer suppressing properties, such as aspirin. It is estimated that people will prefer an intervention that includes taking one drug per day over the effort involved in constantly changing lifestyles. The medicinal approach should consider a person's individual risk of getting cancer and the risk profile of the drug in question."

"The biological approach allows for personal and population identification of the degree of risk of getting cancer based on genetic tests. Modern science allows us to identify not only populations with severe and rare hereditary syndromes, but also a biological risk that refers to broad populations that are at a moderate risk of the disease."

"Identifying biological characteristics can lead to individual recommendations for both primary prevention and early detection. Biological subgroups in the population may be at an increased risk of cancer resulting, for example, from risky behavior (such as people with damage to the DNA repair system who smoke), or at an increased risk of addiction to a health-hazardous habit. With the help of biological characterization, it will be possible in the future to tailor a personal contraceptive suit to a person based on a genetic profile or 'identity card' that can be identified through blood tests."

about cancer

According to the data of the Cancer Society, there are currently about 120,000 cancer patients living in Israel who are being treated or monitored (the count refers to 5 years from the day the disease was discovered). According to the data of the National Cancer Registry in the Ministry of Health, every year about 23,500 new cancer patients are discovered in Israel, of which about 450 are children.

About the National Institute for Health Policy Research and Health Services

The Institute is responsible to the Health Council to follow Section 52 T (2) of the State Health Insurance Law, which instructs "to monitor the implementation of the law and to conduct research, surveys and professional opinions". In addition to the research activity, the institute also holds scientific meetings, and a regular policy forum of the captains of the health system to discuss topical policy questions. In addition, an annual policy conference and workshops are held with the participation of experts from abroad in which an in-depth analysis of key issues that concern the health system in Israel is done and its conclusions are formulated as recommendations for the decision makers.