Former United States President Joe Biden was not diagnosed with prostate cancer prior to last week, his office clarified on Tuesday, dismissing mounting speculation about an alleged cover-up regarding his health condition.
The statement comes amid growing scrutiny from critics — most prominently current President Donald Trump — who have questioned the timing and transparency surrounding Biden’s recent diagnosis.
“President Biden’s last known PSA was in 2014,” the statement said, referring to the prostate-specific antigen test commonly used to detect signs of prostate cancer. “Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer.”
The clarification followed President Trump’s remarks on Monday, in which he expressed disbelief at the timing of Biden’s diagnosis. “Why did it take so long? This takes a long time. It can take years to get to this level of danger,” Trump said, suggesting that the public may not have been informed of Biden’s condition in a timely manner. “Somebody is not telling the facts, and that’s a big problem.”
Biden’s team announced on Sunday that the former president, 82, had been diagnosed two days earlier with advanced prostate cancer, which has reportedly metastasised to his bones. The cancer was said to have a Gleason score of 9 — placing it among the most aggressive types under the classification system, which ranges from 6 to 10.
While the timing of the diagnosis has raised questions, medical professionals have offered differing assessments. Some expressed scepticism, given Biden’s access to premier healthcare facilities. Others, however, noted that prostate cancer can be difficult to detect, especially among older patients.
Dr Adam Weiner, a urologic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said that while the development was unfortunate, it was not implausible. “It is entirely reasonable, albeit sad, that even a person of President Biden’s position may present with a new diagnosis of prostate cancer that is metastatic at his age,” he said.
Weiner added that routine screening is not typically advised for men above the age of 70, due to potential complications arising from unnecessary treatment. “Since President Biden is now 82, it is entirely possible he was screened for prostate cancer up to the recommended age and his newly diagnosed prostate cancer first occurred sometime since then.”
Professor Nick James, a prostate cancer expert at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, said the diagnosis was “plausible even if a bit unusual.” He noted that certain types of prostate cancer produce very low levels of PSA, making them harder to detect with standard tests. “It’s one of the drawbacks of PSA testing — it can miss such tumours,” James told Al Jazeera. He further pointed out that prostate MRI scans also carry a risk of false negatives.
The former president’s age and health have long been subjects of public concern. These issues intensified following his faltering debate performance against Trump in June, after which Biden suspended his re-election campaign.
Allegations that the Biden team sought to conceal the former president’s physical and cognitive decline have resurfaced with renewed vigour. On Tuesday, journalist Jake Tapper and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson released a new book titled Original Sin, in which they allege deliberate efforts by the Biden camp to hide his deteriorating condition.
