Biden announces cancer ‘moonshot’ relaunch to halve death rate

Raw Story: President Joe Biden on Wednesday will announce a relaunch of the government’s cancer “moonshot” effort, with a goal of cutting the US death rate from the disease by half.

The so-called “moonshot” against cancer was first launched in 2016 with $1.8 billion in federal funds to be spread out over seven years. Only $400 million of that remains available to cover this year and 2023.

Biden to relaunch ‘cancer moonshot,’ aiming to reduce death rate, administration officials say https://t.co/Z9kleYxACa

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 2, 2022

Biden, whose son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46, spearheaded the original project as vice president under Barack Obama. He has talked emotionally about the pain that he and his wife Jill went through as they searched for solutions to their son’s fatal illness.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ mother, a breast cancer researcher, died of colon cancer in 2009.

Now, Biden and Harris are set to address a White House ceremony to “reignite” the initiative, whose name deliberately echoes the 1969 triumph of NASA landing the first humans on the Moon.

While no new funding is being announced, “the president is going to set some very ambitious goals,” a senior official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“I am very confident that there will be robust funding going forward because, I’ve got to say, in these times of disagreements, there’s certainly one thing on which we all agree, across party, across everything — which is the effect of cancer on their lives. I know nothing that unites us more and that is more bipartisan.”  Read more..

https://www.rawstory.com/biden-announces-cancer-moonshot-relaunch-to-halve-rate/