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Moffitt rallying behind 'cancer moonshot' initiative
Aaron Mesmer reports
TAMPA, Fla. - A team from Moffitt Cancer Center traveled to Washington D.C. Tuesday to support President Joe Biden's "cancer moonshot" program, which aims to reduce the number of cancer deaths by 50% in the next 25 years.
Speaking from Boston a day earlier, the president announced his ambitious goal on the 60th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's speech, calling for the U.S. to put a person on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Since then, presidents have been referring to some of their lofty goals as "moonshots."
The Moffitt Cancer Center team, led by CEO Patrick Hwu, is in the Nation's Capital, rallying behind the president's goal.
"Just like the goal to go to the moon was ambitious but doable, I think that bringing down the cancer death rates by 50% in 25 years is certainly doable," said Dr. Dana Rollison, Moffitt's Vice President and Chief Data Officer. "If we bring together the scientific community, working with industry innovators and together with government support can drive this reduction in cancer."
Rollison said scientists are already making major strides in cancer treatment.
"The major breakthrough in cancer treatment recently is an immunotherapy, which is essentially taking the body's own immune system and equipping it to better attack the cancer," Rollison told FOX 13. "This is leading to cures of cancer that had previously been incurable and the promise for immunotherapy is unlimited. If we double down on our research in how the immune system can be used to kill cancer in the future."
President Biden first announced the "cancer moonshot" program in February. His speech Monday re-established it as one of his administration's top priorities.
Rollison believes the program will help researchers improve current methods, while exploring new ways to treat, prevent and diagnose cancer.
"We're really at a precipice of amazing discoveries, and I think now is the time to double down on our cancer research efforts," she said. "These advances in ways to prevent cancer, to find it early, as well as to treat it all work together to drive down those death rates. And we've already seen a return on investment in cancer research to date. We need to double down on that investment to truly drive down the mortality rates."
The announcement provided some hope to cancer survivors.
"To put money behind research and treatments to help save lives is amazing from a personal point of view. As a person who has incurable cancer, it gives me a tremendous amount of hope," said Bill Potts of St. Petersburg, who has had cancer six times and is currently battling an incurable form of lymphoma. "I have always said that the longer I live, the longer I will live. So I've always been a big believer in the technology and the research catching up with my cancer."
The White House also announced a new biotechnology and biomanufacturing initiative intended to give a shot in the arm to medical research and manufacturing, while ensuring new cancer-fighting technology is made in the U.S.