President Donald Trump has pledged to assist Scott Adams, the creator of the “Dilbert” comic strip, in securing a treatment for his prostate cancer. Adams, who revealed earlier this year that he has been diagnosed with metastasized prostate cancer, expressed urgency over his healthcare provider’s failure to schedule his treatment with the FDA-approved drug, Pluvicto.
In a post on X over the weekend, Adams detailed his deteriorating health and the approval he received for Pluvicto, which he described as a potential lifeline. “They have dropped the ball in scheduling the brief IV to administer it, and I can’t seem to fix that,” Adams wrote. “I am declining fast. I will ask President Trump if he can get Kaiser of Northern California to respond and schedule it for Monday. That will give me a fighting chance to stick around on this planet a little bit longer.” He clarified that while the drug is not a cure, it has shown promising results for many patients.
Trump responded promptly, stating he is “on it.” In addition, Robert F. Kennedy, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, indicated that the president is eager to help. The White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Dan Scavino, also confirmed that Trump, Kennedy, and Mehmet Oz, the Medicare and Medicaid Administrator, are all monitoring the situation closely.
Despite the administration’s willingness to intervene, the specific steps the White House will take to facilitate Adams’ treatment remain unclear. A statement from Kaiser Permanente indicated that Adams’ oncology team is actively coordinating the next steps in his cancer care.
Trump has a history of advocating for policies that aid patients needing access to life-saving medications. During his first term, he signed the Right to Try Act, allowing terminally ill patients to access treatments that have not yet received full FDA approval.
Adams publicly revealed his cancer diagnosis in May during an episode of his YouTube show, “Real Coffee with Scott Adams.” He stated that he has the same type of cancer as President Biden, who also announced a prostate cancer diagnosis earlier this year. Adams expressed empathy toward Biden, who underwent radiation therapy for his condition.
Pluvicto, developed by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, has been shown to reduce the risk of disease progression or death in prostate cancer patients by 28%. The drug utilizes radioactive particles to target and destroy cancer cells, and its recent FDA approval significantly increases the number of patients eligible for treatment.
Gina Carithers, CEO of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, noted the importance of this expanded approval. “With worsening outcomes after each successive line of treatment, patients with this type of metastatic prostate cancer and their families have long faced limited options and uncertain outcomes,” she stated. “The now expanded approval of Pluvicto is an empowering development for the prostate cancer community.”
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, making it the second-most common cause of cancer deaths among men in the United States, following lung cancer.
The “Dilbert” comic strip, first published in 1989, enjoyed widespread distribution across U.S. newspapers until its reputation faced challenges in 2023 due to a video featuring Adams making controversial remarks. Subsequent fallout led to Adams being dropped by a publisher and the strip being largely removed from circulation. Adams later clarified that his comments were intended as hyperbole and felt that media coverage had misrepresented the context.
As the situation develops, both Adams and the broader cancer community are hopeful for timely access to treatment that could provide significant health benefits.
