A JAMA study confirms that federal cancer research funding correlates strongly with how common cancers are but barely correlates with how lethal they are—cancers that kill the most people get the least research support. This means resources flow toward treatable cancers (like breast and prostate) while deadlier cancers (hepatobiliary, pancreatic, uterine) are chronically underfunded, creating a structural mismatch between disease burden and research investment that slows progress on the most fatal types.