Of course it’s wrong to remove hope. And I’ve seen some very surprising things happen in my career. A few memorable patients have lived for over 25 years with clear evidence of cancer spread. But hype out of all proportion to reality is completely unjustified. It fuels the modern quest for immortality - an unachievable holy grail. That was further perpetuated yesterday when two new sudies were presented at Chicago: these claimed that statins, the cure-all wonder-drug, can cut your risk of dying from cancer by up to 50 per cent. Western society has a taboo about death not found in many Asian cultures where it is part of a natural continuum. The concept that there will be the sudden discovery of a miraculous breakthrough for cancer or a way of preventing it is fuelled by hype from the drug industry - whether that’s pushing new super expensive treatments, or punting good old statins as being the miracle cure.