WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he was setting a 25-year goal to cut the cancer death rate in half.
The campaign is a relaunch of the Cancer Moonshot initiative, which is aimed at using federal money to find new treatments for cancer.
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“This can really be an American moment to prove to ourselves and, quite frankly, the world that we can do really big things,” Biden told a crowd of lawmakers, administration officials, researchers and others at the White House.
This fight is personal for President Biden. His son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015.
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It’s also personal for us at Channel 2 Action News. Our beloved Jovita Moore passed away from a form of brain cancer, glioblastoma, in October.
Her neurosurgeon, Dr. Edjah Nduom, was alongside President Biden at the White House on Wednesday.
Dr. Nduom spoke with Channel 2′s Wendy Corona about how Moonshot could help people diagnosed with cancer.
“I think we can do better for patients like Beau Biden, for Jovita Moore. I know we can and what we need to get better outcomes for them is new treatments,” he explained.
“And the way we get to new treatments, dramatically new treatments, is by taking a leap of faith and by coming up with new approaches. Things we haven’t thought of before and approaching these cancers in a completely new way. And this Moonshot Initiative is what is going to give us the resources to do that.”
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The American Cancer Society estimates there will be 1,918,030 new cancer cases and 609,360 cancer deaths this year.
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