Partnership To Speed Cancer Therapies

On hand at the announcement at the National Press Club were (from l) NCI acting director Dr. Doug Lowy, patient Melinda Bachini and NIH director Dr. Francis Collins.

Photo: Andrew Propp

On Oct. 12, NIH and 11 biopharmaceutical companies launched the Partnership for Accelerating Cancer Therapies (PACT), a 5-year public-private research collaboration totaling $215 million as part of the Cancer Moonshot. On hand at the announcement at the National Press Club were NCI acting director Dr. Doug Lowy, patient Melinda Bachini and NIH director Dr. Francis Collins.

PACT will initially focus on efforts to identify, develop and validate robust biomarkers—standardized biological markers of disease and treatment response—to advance new immunotherapy treatments that harness the immune system to attack cancer. The partnership will be managed by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, with the Food and Drug Administration serving in an advisory role.