Washington – President Obama said during his final State of the Union Address on Tuesday night that he wants America to be the country that cures cancer once and for all. Obama put Vice President Joe Biden in charge of mission control, as a word game comparing curing cancer to putting a man on the moon.
On the speech the president did not specified exactly how he plans to run the mission, but Biden wrote on his verified Medium account that he wanted to increase both private and public resources to fight cancer. Biden wrote that part of the plan is to break down silos and bring all the cancer fighters together to share information and work together.
“Innovations in data and technology offer the promise to speed research advances and improve care delivery, but the science, data, and research results are trapped in silos, preventing faster progress and greater reach to patients. It’s not just about developing game-changing treatments; it’s about delivering them to those who need them.” Biden wrote.
Biden will begin his mission right away and his agenda is full with work focus on developing the “Cancer Moonshot 2020” program. The vice president will travel to the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine on Friday; there he will continue the national dialogue with physicians and researchers. Next week he plans to meet with international experts at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and later this month he will organize the first of several meetings with cabinet secretaries and heads of agencies to discuss federal investment in cancer research.
Different corporations and institutions including Celgene Corp., Amgen Inc., Independence Blue Cross, Allscripts, Blackberry, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Johns Hopkins University will join Moonshot 2020 initiative providing access to technologies and resources, including more than 60 novel and approved drugs.
Vice President Joe Biden lost his 46 year-old son to brain cancer last year and he had said that from his personal experience, he had learned that research and therapies are on the cusp of incredible breakthroughs. Biden announced last year in a speech he would not run for president, instead he vowed he will focus on trying to eradicate cancer.
Source: ABC News