Is ASCO more important than the Beatles?

Meet the group more important than the Beatles. And, no, it's not Brit boy band One Direction (despite what opinion One Direction singer Harry Styles may have to the contrary).

It's the American Society of Clinical Oncology ... at least according to the drug industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

In an ad on the Washington Post website, PhRMA points out that 1964 wasn't just the year the Fab Four invaded America. It was also when ASCO held its first meeting. “The work of both groups, and their followers, has helped bring music to millions of peoples' lives for the last 50 years—albeit in radically different ways,” the ad says.

The launch of the Web page coincided with ASCO's 50th annual meeting this month.

The death rate from cancer is now half what it was 50 years ago, according to the ad, citing new medicines as one of the main reasons.

It's a bit of turnabout, since John Lennon once famously declared the Beatles to be more popular than Jesus.

Outliers isn't going to wade into those theological waters and speculate whether ASCO could make any claims in that direction. But no one would deny that the field of oncology sometimes seems to perform miracles.

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