On Monday, Biden laid out a vision that included vaccines that could prevent cancer and molecular “postal codes” that could deliver drugs and gene therapies to the right place. He envisioned a blood test that could detect cancer early and a single shot that could replace grueling chemotherapy treatments. The commitment to fighting cancer is deeply personal for Biden, who lost his son Bo to brain cancer in 2015. He noted that after Bo died, Ted Kennedy’s wife, Vicki Kennedy, wrote to him. He recalled that after John F. Kennedy’s death, his father wrote a letter in which he observed that when a loved one’s life is cut short, it makes you wonder what you will do with the rest. “For a lot of us, that’s what we’re trying to do. Live a life worthy of the loved ones we lost and the loved ones we can save,” Biden said. As part of the effort, Biden announced that Dr. Renee Wegrzyn, an executive at Ginkgo Bioworks in Boston, will be the inaugural director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, which will focus on biomedical research and innovation. While some in health care have expressed skepticism that cancer deaths could be reduced so dramatically in such a short period of time, Dr. down on the moonshot initiative, given the discoveries of the human genome, the advent of immunotherapy and the promise of progress in early detection. These efforts could tackle cancers that have been incredibly difficult to treat, such as pancreatic cancer and brain tumors. In 2022, the American Cancer Society estimates, 1.9 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed and 609,360 people will die from cancer. “We are at an important juncture where a lot of progress has been made and there is a lot of potential, but there is a lot of hard work that will require more than the usual people involved. His vision is exactly in line with what is needed,” Khan said. after attending Biden’s speech. Biden also signed an executive order to launch a National Biotechnology and Bioindustry Initiative, aimed at strengthening the domestic bioindustry and identifying research and development needs in life science and biotechnology. The president’s Cancer Office, formed seven months ago to help realize a vision to end cancer as we know it, has also been busy, noting that the National Cancer Institute has launched a national trial to detect multiple cancers through blood tests . Research is also moving forward with a program, created by the Department of Defense, to better understand the links between cancer and military toxic exposure. Cancer Awareness Month began in early 2016 when President Barack Obama announced that Biden would lead the initiative. While out of office, Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, founded the Biden Cancer Initiative, a nonprofit that worked to coordinate new approaches to cancer medicine with multiple organizations. In February, Biden relaunched the Moonshot initiative with a new goal — reducing cancer death rates by 50 percent by 2047 and improving the experience for cancer patients and families. Biden’s lunar photo echoes the war on cancer launched by President Richard Nixon, who said in a speech in December 1971 that “the same kind of concentrated effort that split the atom and got the man to the moon must be turned towards conquering this terrible disease.” In October 2016, speaking at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate, next to JFK’s library, Biden noted that progress on Nixon’s vision had been slow, but technological advances, many of which occurred in Boston, they had changed the perspective. Kate Walsh, CEO of Boston Medical Center, who also attended Monday’s speech, said he was impressed by the idea of bringing the strength of the US government behind the challenge, specifically focusing on reducing disparities in care and outcomes. He also noted Biden’s comments that health systems needed to smooth the experience of families going through the disease. Katie Murphy, president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association and a nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said focusing on cancer will promote progress in other diseases. Lisa Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network, said she appreciated Biden’s focus on more than research and treatments, but also on screenings and the broader continuum of care. Biden’s speech was also attended by many on the Boston political scene, including US Labor Secretary Martin J. Walsh, a child cancer survivor. U.S. Reps. Stephen Lynch, Ayanna Pressley, Lori Trahan and Jake Auchincloss. Senate President Karen Spilka; and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. As he laid out a broad vision, Biden met with those dealing with cancer most directly. Dr. Daphne Haas-Kogan, chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center, said she saw her own patient, who is battling brain cancer, sitting in front of her. Her eyes were red and the patient told her she said she had cried on Biden’s shoulder. “He gave her his handkerchief and she held onto it for dear life, saying, ‘This is going to be my charm,’” Haas-Kogan said. “To think that such an important leader touched her in such a personal way brought me to tears. It was really something.” Jessica Bartlett can be reached at [email protected] Follow her on Twitter @ByJessBartlett.
