Cancer in Costa Rica

IARC estimates 13,604 new cancer cases and 6,119 cancer deaths in Costa Rica in 2024; the commonest new cancers are prostate, breast and colorectum. This page is assembled automatically from OnCo's data: 24 trials with a site there and 1 company, and says what OnCo does not yet hold.

Cancer figures, GLOBOCAN 2024

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New cases

13,604

all cancers

Deaths

6,119

all cancers

Incidence rate

177.6

per 100,000, age-standardised

Mortality rate

72.6

per 100,000, age-standardised

Cumulative risk

18.1%

of a cancer by age 74

Population

5,129,915

IARC, 2024

Most new cases

Site	New cases	Rate	OnCo page
Prostate	1,717	45.5	Prostate cancer
Breast	1,452	38.1	Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer, HER2-positive breast cancer
Colorectum	1,250	15.6	Colorectal cancer
Stomach	1,091	13.4	Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer
Thyroid	875	13.6	Thyroid cancer
Trachea, bronchus and lung	525	6.3	Lung cancer (all types), Non-small-cell lung cancer, Small-cell lung cancer
Liver and intrahepatic bile ducts	440	5.4	Hepatocellular carcinoma
Corpus uteri	428	11.2	Endometrial cancer
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma	425	5.8	Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (all types), Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
Leukaemia	398	6.3	Acute myeloid leukaemia, Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Most deaths

Site	Deaths	Rate	OnCo page
Colorectum	764	8.9	Colorectal cancer
Stomach	758	9.0	Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer
Prostate	516	11.6	Prostate cancer
Breast	458	10.7	Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer, HER2-positive breast cancer
Liver and intrahepatic bile ducts	403	4.6	Hepatocellular carcinoma
Trachea, bronchus and lung	400	4.6	Lung cancer (all types), Non-small-cell lung cancer, Small-cell lung cancer
Pancreas	321	3.8	Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
Leukaemia	257	3.5	Acute myeloid leukaemia, Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma	235	2.9	Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (all types), Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
Brain, central nervous system	189	2.6	Glioma & glioblastoma

Incidence: method 1, trends in national rates projected to 2024.
Mortality: method 1, trends in national rates projected to 2024.
Rates are age-standardised per 100,000 (World standard population), both sexes, all ages. Non-melanoma skin cancer is left out of the site lists, as on the deep dives. IARC lists the country as “Costa Rica”, in Central America (Latin America and the Caribbean), Very High HDI, upper middle income.
Source: Ervik M, Laversanne M, Lam F, Colombet M, Ferlay J, Filho AM, Bray F (2026). Global Cancer Observatory: Cancer Today (2024 estimates, version 1.0). Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer. https://gco.iarc.who.int/today, read through the IARC API on 2026-11-04.

Trials with a site here

24 trials in OnCo · 7 recruiting overall

24 trials

Trial			Lead sponsor
A Study of Calderasib (MK-1084) Plus Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) in Participants With KRAS G12C Mutant Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) With Programmed Cell Death Ligand 1 (PD-L1) Tumor Proportion Score (TPS) ≥50% (MK-1084-004/KANDLELIT-004) NCT06345729	Phase 3	Recruiting	Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC	241	2026-10-07
Long-term Safety and Efficacy Extension Study for Participants With Advanced Tumors Who Are Currently on Treatment or in Follow-up in a Pemb NCT03486873	Phase 3	Recruiting	Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC	782	2026-10-07
A Study of Opevesostat (MK-5684) Versus Alternative Next-generation Hormonal Agent (NHA) in Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer (mCRPC) Post One NHA (MK-5684-004) NCT06136650	Phase 3	Recruiting	Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC	330	2026-10-06
A Study of Sacituzumab Tirumotecan (MK-2870) as a Single Agent and in Combination With Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) Versus Treatment of Physician's Choice in Participants With HR+/HER2- Unresectable Locally Advanced or Metastatic Breast Cancer (MK-2870-010) NCT06312176	Phase 3	Recruiting	Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC	259	2026-10-06
waveLINE-003 NCT05139017	Phase 2/3	Recruiting	Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC	135	2026-10-06
A Rollover Study for Participants Previously Enrolled in a Genentech and/or F. Hoffman-La Roche Sponsored Study NCT05862285	Phase 3	Recruiting	Hoffmann-La Roche	77	2026-10-02
A Global Phase III Study of Rilvegostomig or Pembrolizumab Monotherapy for First-Line Treatment of PD-L1-high Metastatic Non-small Cell Lung Cancer NCT06868277	Phase 3	Recruiting	AstraZeneca	304	2026-09-25
A Study of Intismeran Autogene (V940) Plus Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) Versus Placebo Plus Pembrolizumab in Participants With Non-small Cell Lung Cancer ( NCT06077760	Phase 3	Active not recruiting	Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC	229	2026-09-18
A Study to Evaluate Efficacy and Safety of Giredestrant Compared With Fulvestrant (Plus a CDK4/6 Inhibitor), in Participants With ER-Positive, HER2-Negative Advanced Breast Cancer Resistant to Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy (pionERA Breast Cancer) NCT06065748	Phase 3	Active not recruiting	Hoffmann-La Roche	311	2026-09-14
A Safety and Efficacy Extension Study of Pertuzumab in Patients With Solid Tumors Previously Enrolled in a Hoffmann-La Roche-Sponsored Pertuzumab Clinical Trial NCT02320435	Phase 3	Active not recruiting	Hoffmann-La Roche	62	2026-08-11
Evaluation of Co-formulated Pembrolizumab/Quavonlimab (MK-1308A) Versus Other Treatments in Participants With Microsatellite Instability-High (MSI-H) NCT04895722	Phase 2	Active not recruiting	Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC	109	2026-07-02
IMbrave050 NCT04102098	Phase 3	Completed	Hoffmann-La Roche	134	2026-06-18
lidERA NCT04961996	Phase 3	Active not recruiting	Hoffmann-La Roche	622	2026-06-17
ALEX NCT02075840	Phase 3	Completed	Hoffmann-La Roche	97	2026-05-29
Efficacy and Safety of Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) in Combination With Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) in High-Risk Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (HR NMIBC) (MK-3475-676/KEYNOTE-676) NCT03711032	Phase 3	Active not recruiting	Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC	209	2026-05-01
KEYNOTE-859 NCT03675737	Phase 3	Completed	Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC	215	2026-02-27
Study of Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) Versus Placebo in Combination With Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy & Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy in the Treatment of Early-Stage Estrogen Receptor-Positive, Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Negative (ER+/HER2-) Breast Cancer (MK-3475-756/KEYNOTE-756) NCT03725059	Phase 3	Active not recruiting	Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC	244	2025-07-11
A Study of Neoadjuvant/Adjuvant Durvalumab for the Treatment of Patients With Resectable Non-small Cell Lung Cancer NCT03800134	Phase 3	Active not recruiting	AstraZeneca	231	2025-06-11
KEYNOTE-590 NCT03189719	Phase 3	Completed	Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC	189	2024-10-15
IPATunity130 NCT03337724	Phase 3	Completed	Hoffmann-La Roche	176	2024-03-12
IMpassion130 NCT02425891	Phase 3	Completed	Hoffmann-La Roche	247	2022-07-19
Efficacy and Safety Evaluation of Osilodrostat in Cushing's Disease NCT02697734	Phase 3	Completed	Novartis Pharmaceuticals	36	2021-11-01
CLEOPATRA NCT00567190	Phase 3	Completed	Genentech, Inc.	322	2019-12-13
ToGA NCT01041404	Phase 3	Completed	Hoffmann-La Roche	142	2014-11-05

Trial records in OnCo whose ClinicalTrials.gov entry lists at least one site in Costa Rica, captured 2026-10-07 to 2026-10-07. Recruiting first, then the most recently updated. The status is the study's overall status; whether a site in Costa Rica is open is on the registry page, under Contacts and Locations.

Institutions, companies and people

1 company

Establishment Labs (Motiva)

Approvals

OnCo records approvals for United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, China, Australia and India. Costa Rica is not one of them, so no approval in OnCo speaks for it. See the approvals by region matrix for what is held.

What OnCo does not yet hold

No registry figures. The figures above are IARC's estimates; OnCo has not read Costa Rica's own cancer registry, its survival figures or its stage at diagnosis.
No payer detail: who pays for cancer care in Costa Rica, what a patient pays, and which medicines are reimbursed.
No regulator detail: the national medicines regulator, its approval routes and its decisions.
No national cancer plan, guideline, screening schedule or treatment-centre list read from Costa Rica's own sources.

Costa Rica is not among the 60 countries ranked in the country coverage queue (November 2026), which ranks countries without a page by cases, deaths, research output and population. Know a source? Suggest an edit.

Sources and machine-readable data

IARC Global Cancer Observatory, GLOBOCAN 2024: Cancer Today.
ClinicalTrials.gov study records, courtesy of the US National Library of Medicine, as captured in each trial record.
OnCo records: each chip and card opens a record with its own sources.
This page as JSON: /api/v1/countries/cr.json; every country: /api/v1/countries.json.