WASHINGTON—Following the announcement of the Biden administration’s reanimation of the Cancer Moonshot initiative, with a renewed focus on accelerating scientific discovery in cancer and promoting cancer prevention, screening, and coordination and a goal of reducing the fatality rate from cancer by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy, released the following statement from Stephen Ezell, vice president of global innovation policy at ITIF:
Tackling the continuing cancer challenge is imperative for human health, public health, and the economy, especially when more than 1 million people each year are diagnosed with the disease in the United States. It’s especially important because the COVID-19 pandemic has caused cancer screening delays that may contribute to as many as 10,000 additional deaths from breast and colon cancer alone over the next 10 years.
This speaks to the urgent need for Congress to increase the funding for the National Institutes of Health in general, and for cancer research in particular, and to the need for greater adoption of innovative cancer screening methods, such as multi-cancer early detection approaches.
America’s National Cancer Institute has thus far invested nearly $1 billion in Moonshot funding, supporting more than 240 research projects across more than 70 cancer science initiatives. While significant progress has been made, much more will be needed; it’s laudable that the administration will again shine focus on this continuing challenge.
