OPINION -- Earlier this year, the White House announced its plan to introduce the Cancer Moonshot Initiative, a program that will allow the nation’s top researchers and experts in the field to find a cure for cancer by the year 2020. President Obama has proposed 1 billion dollars of extra funding to be received by organizations, advocacy groups, and governmental agencies. He appointed his Vice President, Joe Biden as the head of this initiative who recently lost his son to brain cancer. The Cancer Moonshot is named for the lofty goals that are hoped to be achieved by the next decade mark and are receiving attention similar to the space program before the moon landing.
Recently, the moonshot’s Blue Ribbon Panel, a group of doctors selected from around the country released their recommendations to outline specific target goals of the cancer moonshot. Two of the goals they listed is to create a clinical trials network that is devoted entirely to immunotherapy and to build a national cancer data ecosystem. For rare cancers, such as mesothelioma, these advancements would prove to be invaluable as an expansion of information.
Clinical Trials and Immunotherapy
Clinical trials can be done or pursued for the advancement of medical knowledge. They are performed to attempt to learn if a new treatment or drug available will perform better or worse than available treatment or, in some cases, no treatment at all. These trials are extremely important, not only for those suffering from cancer now, but for those who are diagnosed in the future.
With the creation of the moonshot initiative, the QUILT Program (Quantitiative Integrative Lifelong Trial) was designed under the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the NCI and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the US. This program plans to incorporate all known aspects of the immune system and perform trials with different combinations of treatments to create and sustain lifelong remission in cancer patients.
In addition, the NCI has created the Genomic Data Commons which is a repository for genomic information about different types of cancer that is open to the public to access and medical professionals to add data about the genomic abnormalities of specific types of cancer. This means that information about genomic abnormalities that cause cancer, effective treatments, and other essential information will now be readily available to aid current patients.
The Future for Rare Cancers
With the creation of the QUILT program and the GDC from NCI, the future for those who suffer from rare cancers like mesothelioma, is brighter than ever. In the past, bypassing the red tape that often comes with navigation through multiple organizations’ informational databases in the search for information has inhibited those who desperately need the resources from finding the help that they need.
With more funding and the additional resources, treatment options for rare cancers will hopefully begin to become less debilitating. Currently with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation the options are slim. It is the hope of Vice President Biden and all those who stand behind the Cancer Moonshot Initiative that by the year 2020, there will be a cure for everyone’s type of cancer.
Emily Walsh is the Community Outreach Director with the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance. She works to raise awareness for mesothelioma as well as to help get asbestos banned. The MCA supports patients, advocates, and survivors with up-to-date and accurate information about asbestos exposure and mesothelioma.
