On the 60th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s “moonshot” speech, President Joe Biden will channel JFK by spotlighting his administration’s efforts to “end cancer as we know it.”
Monday, the president traveled to Boston to bring attention to a new federally-funded study that tries to confirm the use of blood tests to screen for numerous malignancies – a possible game-changer in diagnostic testing that might significantly enhance early cancer diagnosis. He also anticipated other announcements intended to improve the lives of cancer patients.
Biden’s speech at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is part of his effort to rally the nation around the development of treatments and therapeutics for the pervasive diseases that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rank as the second-leading cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease. Biden intends to move the U.S. closer to the goal he established in February of reducing cancer-related deaths by 50 percent over the next 25 years and to significantly enhance the lives of cancer patients and caregivers.
The White House cancer moonshot coordinator, Danielle Carnival, told The Associated Press that the administration sees enormous potential in the launch of the blood diagnostic research on identifying and treating tumors.
“One of the most intriguing technologies is the development of blood tests that provide the potential of detecting numerous malignancies in a single blood test,” Carnival added. “Imagine the impact that may have on our ability to detect cancer early and more equitably.” We believe that the best way to achieve these goals is to rigorously test the technologies we currently possess to determine which ones perform and have the greatest influence on life extension.
According to the American Cancer Society, 1,9 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed in 2022, and 609,360 individuals will pass away from cancer.
This is a personal matter for Biden, who lost his adult son Beau to brain cancer in 2015. The 21st Century Cures Act, which allocated $1.8 billion over seven years for cancer research and was signed into law in 2016 by President Barack Obama, was enacted by Congress following Beau’s passing.
Obama appointed Biden, the then-vice president, as “mission control” for directing cancer monies in honor of Biden’s parental pain and willingness to take action. Biden claimed in his biography “Promise Me, Dad” that the death of Beau was the primary reason he did not run for president in 2016.
The new project lacks the same level of budgetary support as Kennedy’s space program, despite Biden’s attempts to invoke Kennedy and his space program. The Apollo program attracted huge public investment – over $20 billion, or over $220 billion when adjusted for inflation to 2022 dollars. Biden’s “moonshot” is considerably more limited and dependent on private sector funding.
Biden has championed the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, which is modeled after research and development efforts that aid the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Biden will name Dr. Renee Wegrzyn as the inaugural director of ARPA-H on Monday. ARPA-H has been tasked with researching new therapies and cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and other ailments. In addition, he will unveil a new National Cancer Institute scholars program that would provide funding to early-career scientists researching cancer therapies and cures.
According to experts, it is far too early to say if these new blood tests for detecting cancer in healthy individuals will have any effect on cancer mortality. No studies have shown that they lessen the risk of dying from cancer. Still, they maintain that defining an ambitious objective is essential.
The National Cancer Institute Study, according to Carnival, was designed so that any positive diagnostic results may be rapidly implemented while the longer-term study — estimated to last up to a decade — continues. She stated that the objective was to advance closer to a future in which tumors could be diagnosed by normal bloodwork, perhaps eliminating more invasive and burdensome procedures such as colonoscopies and saving lives in the process.
Scientists now recognize that cancer is not a single disease, but rather hundreds of diseases with varying treatment responses. Some malignancies contain biomarkers that can be targeted by currently available medications to inhibit tumor growth. More targets still to be discovered.
Donald A. Berry, a biostatistician at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, remarked, “How can we determine which medicines are beneficial for which subtypes of disease? Both the opportunities and the obstacles are huge.
In spite of the obstacles, he is optimistic about halving the cancer mortality rate within the next 25 years.
Berry stated, “We can reach the 50% goal by delaying the disease sufficiently across all types of cancer without curing anyone.” “If I were to wager, I would wager that we will reach this 50% reduction.”
Dr. Crystal Denlinger, chief scientific officer of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a network of leading cancer facilities, stated that progress can be accomplished even in the absence of new scientific breakthroughs by increasing care accessibility.
And any effort to reduce the cancer mortality rate must concentrate on lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death. Lung cancer is now the leading cause of cancer-related mortality, largely attributable to smoking. More than 350 of the daily 1,670 cancer fatalities in the United States are caused by lung cancer.
Lung cancer screenings are beneficial. According to the American Cancer Society, such screening helped reduce the cancer death rate by 32% between 1991 and 2019, the most recent year for which data is available.
However, only 5% of eligible people have lung cancer screening.
Dr. Roy Herbst, a lung specialist at Yale Cancer Center, described the situation as sad.
“The moonshot will have to be a societal fix in addition to a technological and medical fix,” said Herbst. We will need to find a means to make screening easier, ensure that it is fully covered, and increase the number of screening centers.
Biden planned to urge Americans who may have postponed cancer exams during the pandemic to seek them out as soon as possible, reiterating that early detection is crucial for preventing negative results.
In addition, he planned to highlight measures in the Democrats’ healthcare and climate change bill that, according to the administration, will reduce out-of-pocket costs for some extensively used cancer treatments. In addition, he will celebrate new protections for soldiers exposed to hazardous burn pits, which will cover their possible cancer diagnosis.
Dr. Michael Hassett of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston stated that Biden’s objective of reducing cancer mortality might be attained by pursuing two parallel paths: discovery and ensuring that as many people as possible benefit from existing medications and preventive measures.
“Significant progress is achievable if we can address both aspects and obstacles,” Hassett added.
According to Hassett’s research, many women with breast cancer who could benefit from a hormone-blocking tablet either never begin the therapy or stop taking it before the recommended five years.
“Those are enormous gaps,” Hassett remarked. “That is an effective treatment, but if many individuals aren’t taking it or if they’re taking it but stopping it before completing the course of therapy, then the potential benefits of the prescription aren’t achieved.”