Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer, according to a Sunday statement from his personal office.
Biden, 82, had been seen last week for a prostate nodule after “increasing urinary symptoms” and received the diagnosis on Friday, according to the statement.
The cancer was given a 9 on the 10-point Gleason grading system, a reading of the prostate biopsy under a microscope that suggests the former president has a more aggressive cancer. His office also said it had spread to the bone, which makes it more difficult to target treatment.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” his office said. “The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
Biden has previously had growths removed during his presidency, his administration had disclosed. In early 2023, he had a basal cell carcinoma skin lesion removed from his chest, and in late 2021, he had a benign but potentially pre-cancerous polyp removed from his colon. A similar polyp had been removed in 2008.
Biden, whose son Beau Biden died in 2015 due to brain cancer, had sought to make the disease a focus of his time in the White House both as vice president and president. In 2022, he and his wife Jill Biden unveiled the Cancer Moonshot initiative to drive new collaborations between government, academia, healthcare providers and the private life sciences sector to develop novel treatments and increase patients’ quality of life.
The American Cancer Society, in a statement, wished Biden well and described him as “a longtime champion in the fight to end cancer as we know it, for everyone.”
“This news is a reminder about the tragic impact of prostate cancer in the U.S., where about one in eight men will be diagnosed over their lifetime with prostate cancer,” the society said. “Although it is a highly survivable disease when caught in early stages, it is the second leading cause of cancer death in men.”
More than 2 million new cases of cancer diagnoses are estimated across the U.S. in 2025, with more than 618,000 people estimated to die from the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute. Nearly two in five people will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lifetime. National expenditure on cancer care in the country was $208.9 billion in 2020, and is expected to increase with time.
Biden was the oldest serving president in U.S. history. His physical health became a key public issue during the later part of his term and especially in early 2024 before Biden handed over his reelection campaign to Vice President Kamala Harris. Recent days have seen the president defending himself from accusations that aides covered up his diminishing capacity during the end of his term, as described in a book set for release tomorrow based on journalists’ interviews with Democratic insiders.
President Donald Trump, who is 78 and would claim the title of oldest serving president should he complete his second term, pointed to Biden’s age and condition on the campaign trail and often continues to do so when criticizing his predecessor’s performance in the White House.
In a statement following Biden’s announcement, Trump said that he and First Lady Melania Trump “are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.”
Vice President J.D. Vance echoed his best wishes for the former president’s health during a Monday press gaggle, but reiterated his belief that Biden was not in good enough health to hold the Oval Office.
“That’s not politics, that’s not because I disagreed with him on policy. That’s because I don’t think that he was in good enough health,” Vance said. “…Why didn’t the American people have a better sense of his health picture? Why didn’t the American people have more accurate information about what he was actually dealing with? This is serious stuff.”