US: President Biden aims to cut cancer deaths by 50%

 US President Joe Biden announced the relaunch of the government's "moonshot" program on Wednesday that seeks to cut cancer deaths in the country by 50% over the next few decades.

Biden first launched "moonshot" in 2016 while serving as vice-president under President Barack Obama, allocating a total of $1.8 billion (€1.59 billion) to be spent over seven years.

"Working together over the next 25 years, we will cut today's age-adjusted death rate from cancer by at least 50 percent," the White House said in a statement.

Cancer is also a personal issue for Biden. His eldest son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46.

"This can really be an American moment to prove to ourselves and, quite frankly, the world that we can do really big things," the president said at a ceremony for the program.

Biden setting 'ambitious goals'

The name of the program hearkens back to the 1969 moon landing by the US, a deliberate reference to what is considered a national triumph.

Biden announced the plan at the White House alongside Vice-President Kamala Harris. Harris's mother was a breast cancer researcher and died of colon cancer in 2009. Harris said her mother's work had "saved women's lives."

There is some $400 million leftover from the initial funds to be spent over the next two years. The president is not expected yet to announce further funds but will set "very ambitious goals" a senior official told reporters.

But the White House is expecting further funding to become possible on the back of a bipartisan deal. The White House also wants to focus on the racial inequalities in access to cancer treatments.

"I am very confident that there will be robust funding going forward because, I've got to say, in these times of disagreements, there's certainly one thing on which we all agree, across party, across everything — which is the effect of cancer on their lives," the official said.

"I know nothing that unites us more and that is more bipartisan," they added.

300,000 fewer deaths

The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be almost 2 million cancer cases this year, of which more than 600,000 will result in death.

The White House's plan is to bring the number of deaths down by around 300,000 per year.

Cancer-related deaths have already fallen by around a quarter when adjusted for age. The death rate currently stands at 146 per 100,000 people, down from around 200 in the year 2000.

This reduction is largely down to improvements in treatments, diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. A significant drop in the number of long-term adult smokers has also played a key role.

"Because of recent progress in cancer therapeutics, diagnostics, and patient-driven care, as well as the scientific advances and public health lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic, it's now possible to set ambitious goals," the White House said.

"Taken together, these actions will drive us toward ending cancer as we know it today."

ab/rs (AFP, AP)