The Cancer Money Trail: Before the Money
Before we follow the world's cancer research money, we need to understand the disease humanity has been trying to understand for thousands of years.
The Cancer Money Trail is a US Policy Grid investigation into how cancer research is funded, where that money goes, what it produces and who ultimately benefits. This first part starts before the money: with the history of the disease itself.
Who was the first cancer patient?
There is no reliable historical record identifying the first human being who ever developed cancer. Cancer almost certainly existed before people had systems capable of recording individual diagnoses, and ancient descriptions cannot always be confirmed using modern pathology.
So the responsible question is: what is the earliest surviving evidence that humans recognised cancer?
SEER Training, part of the U.S. National Cancer Institute's cancer information system, says the earliest known descriptions appear in ancient Egyptian medical papyri. The Edwin Smith and Ebers papyri contain descriptions written around 1600 BC and are believed to preserve material from sources dating as early as about 2500 BC. The Edwin Smith papyrus describes surgery, while the Ebers papyrus includes pharmacological, mechanical and magical treatments. SEER Training — Cancer: A Historic Perspective
That is not evidence of a named “first patient.” It is evidence that ancient physicians were observing and attempting to treat abnormal growths that form part of the documented history of cancer.
How did they know it was cancer?
They did not have microscopes, modern pathology or genetic testing. Diagnosis depended largely on observation and, in some cases, what physicians could see or feel during treatment.
Over centuries, medicine moved from visible tumours and theories about bodily fluids toward direct observation of anatomy, microscopy, pathology and eventually molecular biology.
NCI's history of cancer research records milestones including Percivall Pott's 1775 observation linking chimney-soot exposure with squamous cell carcinoma among chimney sweeps, and later discoveries connecting cancer with cellular and inflammatory changes. NCI — Milestones in Cancer Research and Discovery
The word “cancer” has a long history
Ancient Greek medicine used the term karkinos, associated with a crab, for some tumours. The terminology changed as medical knowledge changed, but the underlying problem remained: abnormal tissue could grow, invade and eventually spread.
Modern cancer biology is radically different from ancient explanations. NCI describes cancer as a collection of related diseases involving abnormal cells that can grow without normal controls and invade other tissues. Genetic changes can arise through errors during cell division, environmental exposures or inherited changes. NCI — What Is Cancer?
So how many cancers are there?
The simple answer is more than 100 types, according to NCI. But modern classification is more complicated: cancers can be named by the organ or tissue where they begin, the cell type involved, their behaviour, and increasingly their molecular and genetic characteristics. NCI — What Is Cancer?
NCI's cancer index lists diseases and subtypes ranging from breast, lung and colorectal cancers to leukemias, lymphomas, sarcomas and rare childhood cancers. NCI — Cancer Types
International statistics use another classification framework. IARC's GLOBOCAN 2022 analysis reports on 36 cancer types across 185 countries. That does not contradict the NCI's “more than 100 types” figure; it reflects a specific international statistical classification used for global comparisons. IARC — Global Cancer Statistics 2022
The scale of the problem today
IARC estimated almost 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million cancer deaths in 2022, based on data covering 185 countries and 36 cancer types. IARC — Global cancer burden growing
More recent WHO data reports that cancer caused nearly 10 million deaths in 2024. WHO also notes that many cancers can be cured when detected early and treated effectively. WHO — Cancer
Why this history matters to the money trail
For thousands of years, the questions have remained remarkably consistent: What causes these abnormal growths? Can they be prevented? Can they be removed? Can patients survive them?
What has changed is the scale and complexity of the scientific effort: surgery, microscopy, pathology, epidemiology, genetics, molecular biology and clinical trials have built a global research system involving governments, universities, hospitals, charities, foundations, biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical companies and investors.
If cancer research has expanded into a global scientific and commercial system, where does the money actually come from — and where does it go?
We will not begin with an accusation or a predetermined conclusion. We will follow the records and distinguish public funding, philanthropic funding, commercial research and investment. Where the evidence is incomplete, we will say so.
Investigation standard: US Policy Grid prioritizes primary and authoritative records, cross-checks important claims where possible, distinguishes different kinds of funding and avoids presenting allegations as facts. The purpose is to follow the evidence, not decide the conclusion in advance.
Sources & records
Next Sunday — Part 2: Where Does the Cancer Research Money Come From?
We begin mapping governments, taxpayers, charities, foundations, international organisations, pharmaceutical companies and private investment.
US Policy Grid follows the record behind the headlines — with primary sources, context and transparent methodology.