Study Outlines Opportunities to Achieve Cancer Moonshot Goal
Opportunities for achieving the Cancer Moonshot national goal have been outlined in a recently published study.
Researchers from NIH have outlined opportunities for achieving President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden’s Cancer Moonshot national goal of reducing the cancer death rate by at least 50% over the next 25 years.
A study published in Cancer Discovery, led by researchers at NCI, has concluded that achieving this goal will require increased access to and use of interventions known to prevent common causes of cancer death.
“Achieving a 50% reduction in cancer mortality in 25 years will be impossible without addressing cancer health equity,” said NCI Director Dr. Monica Bertagnolli. “For several of the strategies highlighted in this study, improving access is critical.”
Opportunities outlined in the study include further reducing the prevalence of cigarette smoking and use of other tobacco products, increasing the use of colonoscopy for prevention and early detection of colorectal cancer, increasing the use of hormone therapy to prevent and treat breast cancer, and increasing detection and treatment of hepatitis B and hepatitis C viral infections to reduce the risk of liver cancer. Also, new strategies are needed to reduce deaths from prostate, liver, pancreatic and other cancers, as well as to address inequities in access to all these interventions.
Publication of this study coincides with the release of the National Cancer Plan, a long-term, ambitious framework developed to support a national response to achieving the goals of the Cancer Moonshot, which first launched in 2016 by then-Vice President Biden.
Read more about Bertagnolli and the plan.