WASHINGTON — The next chapter of President Biden’s moonshot to end cancer has landed. While the new goals are inspiring hope among cancer researchers, not everyone is impressed.
The president early Wednesday morning unveiled a slew of federal plans and private-sector agreements to fuel the relaunched Cancer Moonshot, a project to improve treatments and halve cancer deaths in the next 25 years. Among roughly 50 new programs and partnerships are multimillion-dollar pledges to advance testing, data pools, clinical trials and outreach efforts.
It is the latest phase of a project Biden first launched as vice president in the wake of his son Beau’s death from brain cancer in 2015. But while the first moonshot funneled money almost entirely to early-stage cancer research, its sequel is broadening efforts to prevent cancer deaths — particularly through anti-smoking efforts — and introduces a new focus on research infrastructure and patient engagement that some cancer researchers have applauded.