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Drug Discovery and Development

President Biden reboots Cancer Moonshot project 

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White House

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

In 2016, then-Vice President Joe Biden announced a Cancer Moonshot initiative to speed the development of new therapies to treat cancer.

Biden is now launching a new initiative committed to improving the cancer survival rate by at least 50% by 2047. The plan also aims to improve the quality of life for patients with cancer.

“We can end cancer as we know it,” Biden said in an announcement introducing the initiative.

Biden named Dr. Danielle Carnival as the White House Cancer Moonshot coordinator. Carnival is currently the senior advisor to the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

One of the short-term goals of the initiative will be to bolster cancer screening rates, which have plummeted during the pandemic.

Biden seeks to form a Cancer Cabinet with officials from a range of government offices.

Biden also wants to help support research involving mRNA technology for cancer therapies and vaccines.

The initiative also seeks to reduce inequalities related to cancer in diverse populations.

Biden also wants to leverage recent progress in streamlining clinical trials during the pandemic to accelerate the rate of oncology drug development.

Also included in the initiative is a partnership with UK oncology researchers.

Drug companies have made considerable progress in improving cancer survival in recent decades. Also contributing to that trend is progress in radiological imaging and reductions in tobacco use.

Filed Under: Oncology
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About The Author

Brian Buntz

As the pharma and biotech editor at WTWH Media, Brian has almost two decades of experience in B2B media, with a focus on healthcare and technology. While he has long maintained a keen interest in AI, more recently Brian has made making data analysis a central focus, and is exploring tools ranging from NLP and clustering to predictive analytics.

Throughout his 18-year tenure, Brian has covered an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, medical devices, and drug discovery and development. Prior to WTWH, he held the title of content director at Informa, where he focused on topics such as connected devices, cybersecurity, AI and Industry 4.0. A dedicated decade at UBM saw Brian providing in-depth coverage of the medical device sector. Engage with Brian on LinkedIn or drop him an email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

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