More Americans than ever before can call themselves cancer survivors.

According to data released this week by the American Association for Cancer Research, 18 million Americans are currently alive today that have had cancer.

The group reported a 2.3% decline in cancer deaths every year between 2016 and 2019.

The AACR said eight new anticancer therapeutics, the expanded use of 10 anticancer therapeutics and the approval of two new diagnostic imaging agents have helped lead the decline.

“Basic research discoveries have driven the remarkable advances that we’ve seen in cancer medicine in recent years,” said AACR President Lisa M. Coussens. “Targeted therapies, immunotherapy, and other new therapeutic approaches being applied clinically all stem from fundamental discoveries in basic science. Investment in cancer science, as well as support for science education at all levels.”

The organization said the decline is evidence that investment in federal health care programs works.

“Thanks to the bipartisan leadership in Congress that has delivered steady, significant annual funding increases for NIH in recent years, we have never been in a better position to take lifesaving cancer science from the bench to the clinic,” said Margaret Foti, chief executive officer of the AACR. “Ensuring that medical research remains a high priority for our nation’s policymakers is vital if we are to maintain the momentum in advances against cancer.”

A growing shortage of common cancer treatments is forcing doctors to switch medications and delaying some care, prominent U.S. cancer centers say.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network said Wednesday that nearly all the centers it surveyed late last month were dealing with shortages of carboplatin and cisplatin, a pair of drugs used to treat a range of cancers. Some are no longer able to treat patients receiving carboplatin at the intended dose or schedule.

In the video player above: A patient talks about how his cancer treatment was delayed amid medication shortage

Dr. Kari Wisinski has had to turn to other treatments for some patients or switch the order in which people receive their drug combinations. She said she's done that "hoping that within three months there will be a better carboplatin supply."

"It's really difficult as a physician to have these conversations with a family or a patient about not having a medication you'd like to prescribe to them," she said.

Wisinski is a breast cancer specialist with the UW Health Carbone Cancer Center in Madison, Wisconsin, a member of the network. She said doctors, nurses and pharmacists at her center have done a good job managing the drug supply, but doing so has taken them away from other elements of care.

Of the 27 cancer centers that responded to the network's survey, 25 reported a shortage of carboplatin. Among the cancer centers with shortages of carboplatin, more than a third said they were unable to treat all patients according to the intended dose and schedule.

Nineteen hospitals also reported cisplatin shortages, but all said they were able to maintain the treatments for existing patients.

Video below: More about the cancer drug shortage

The problem started developing earlier this year, said Mike Ganio, who studies drug shortages at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

"I think it went from being a shortage to being a really bad shortage really quickly," he said. "There's not a whole lot of room for it to get worse."

Ganio's society reported the cisplatin shortage in January and then carboplatin in late March, months after a factory in India that makes both drugs paused production following an inspection that raised quality concerns.

Manufacturing problems, unexpected demand spikes and tight ingredient supplies have all contributed to a growing number of prescription drug shortages in the United States. Many patients with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder have had a hard time filling prescriptions for Adderall this year, and drugstores ran out of children's medicines during last winter's cold-and-flu season.

There were 301 active national drug shortages through this year's first quarter, according to the University of Utah Drug Information Service.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has taken some steps to try to ease the chemotherapy shortage. The agency is allowing the temporary importation of some foreign-approved versions of cisplatin from factories registered with the FDA.

Video below: FDA says over a dozen cancer treatment drugs are under shortage

That should help, but the big factor is getting the factory in India back up to full production, Ganio said.

He also noted that drug supply shortages are a decades-old problem.

"We really need to get at the root causes of these shortages or they're going to continue happening," he said.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A spokesman for Louie Anderson says the actor and comedian is being treated for cancer in a Las Vegas hospital.

Anderson's longtime publicist Glenn Schwartz says he was diagnosed with a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and "is resting comfortably."

Anderson, who lives in Las Vegas, won a 2016 Emmy for best supporting actor for the comedy series "Baskets."

Anderson received three consecutive Emmy nominations for his role as Christine Baskets, mom to twin sons played by "Baskets" star Zach Galifianakis.

The 68-year-old Anderson appeared on the big screen in 1988's "Coming to America" and in last year's sequel to the Eddie Murphy comedy.

He was also the host of the game show “Family Feud” when it was revived from 1999 to 2002, the Associated Press reported.

Anderson won two Daytime Emmy Awards for his role in the animated series "Life With Louie," which he created. The show ran from 1994-98, the news outlet reported.