Checkpoint immunotherapy helps some cancer patients

The proportion of people who benefit varies between different types of cancer

Deaths due to each cancer in Australia each year

Proportion of people with each cancer who might benefit from immunotherapy

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

4,500

5,000

5,500

6,000

6,500

7,000

7,500

8,000

8,500

9,000

9,500

Lung

Colorectal

Prostate

Breast

Pancreas

Unknown primary

Liver

Leukaemia

Melanoma

Other digestive

Lymphoma

Oesophagus

Brain

Bladder

Stomach

Kidney

Ovary

Head and neck

Multiple myeloma

Uterus and cervix

Deaths due to cancer from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Cancer in Australia report, 2017. The proportion of possible immunotherapy effectiveness is estimated from the "overall response rate" (= fraction of patients experiencing > 30% shrinkage in size of their cancer) from recent scientific publications and international conference reports, relative to the number of patients dying of that cancer.