The National Cancer Moonshot Blue Ribbon Panel recently published its recommendations for speeding cancer research during the upcoming five years, outlining the steps that need to be taken to accelerate the fight against cancer.
In light of these new steps, the American Cancer Society has encouraged Congress implement the new recommendations about legislative proposals. The goal is to raise the efforts of researching cancer, training for palliative care, and eliminating barriers that stop people from receiving prevention.
“The release of these recommendations signifies an important next step in our effort as a nation to identify ways to reduce death and suffering from cancer, and we are pleased the administration continues to maintain a heightened national focus on a disease that is expected to kill more than 595,000 in the United States this year,” Otis Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society and a member of the Blue Ribbon Panel Implementation Science Working Group, said. “To truly maximize our potential to accelerate progress we must support new scientific investigation while simultaneously making the benefits of completed prevention and treatment research available to the entire population.”
There are 10 areas included in the outline, uniting technology, science and advocacy. These areas include treatment outcomes for more precise knowledge and large-scale patient networks for more information.
“Congress should seize this historic opportunity—when researchers are on the brink of so many new and potentially life-saving developments in diagnostic tests and treatments—to boost funding for the NIH and NCI,” American Cancer Society CEO Gary Reedy said. “Much of the major progress we’ve achieved in cancer research over the last 50 years has started with research led by the NIH and NCI. Now is the time to re-invest and accelerate that research.”
