Former President Joe Biden is losing his fight with aggressive prostate cancer, insiders worry.
Close friends and allies are expressing concern Biden’s Stage 4 prostate cancer is taking on the 83-year-old, according to a new report from The Washington Post.
Despite press releases from Biden’s office expressing optimism that Biden will recover, two former Biden officials and an elected Democrat each told the Post that Biden was very fatigued and frail during recent closed-door interactions.
Biden’s office has not released any fresh medical details since announcing last May that his cancer — characterized by a Gleason score of 9, the second-highest on a 10-point scale — had metastasized to his bones.
In October, Biden completed a course of radiation therapy at Penn Medicine Radiation Oncology in Philadelphia. His daughter Ashley Biden announced the milestone on social media, posting a video of her father ringing the ceremonial bell.
But Biden’s cancer is incurable. Experts say that while a few men with metastatic prostate cancer can live for years with treatment, outcomes vary widely depending on the extent to which the disease has spread. Many patients with the cancer see their health decline very rapidly.
Gerald Denis, a Shipley Prostate Cancer Research professor at Boston University’s Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, offered a stark assessment on Biden’s health.
“If the spine has been degraded by the tumor metastasis, it’s entirely possible to break your back simply by getting out of bed the wrong way,” Denis said. “This is a very painful and difficult stage of the terminal illness. I am very sad for him and his family.”
Biden’s public appearances since leaving the White House in January 2025 have been very limited. His office has declined to comment on the new report and has shared no updated information on his health.
The lack of transparency on Biden’s cancer has renewed longstanding questions about whether the deadly condition was known while he was in office. Many doctors noted at the time that it was extremely unusual for such an advanced, aggressive cancer to suddenly appear without prior warning in a patient under close medical supervision.
Questions about Biden’s health now fall largely to former staffers and aides who avoid them, as Biden himself has remained largely out of public view.