Biden hopes to move the U.S. closer to the goal of cutting cancer fatalities by 50% over the next 25 years and improving quality of life
, which dedicated $1.8 billion over seven years for cancer research and was signed into law in 2016 by President Barack Obama.
Still, he’s tried to maintain momentum for investments in public health research, including championing the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, modeled after similar research and development initiatives benefiting the Pentagon and intelligence community. Experts agree it’s far too early to say whether these new blood tests for finding cancer in healthy people will have any effect on cancer deaths. There have been no studies to show they reduce the risk of dying from cancer. Still, they say setting an ambitious goal is important.study was designed so that any promising diagnostic results could be swiftly put into widespread practice while the longer-term study—expected to last up to a decade—progresses.
Despite the challenges, he’s optimistic about cutting the cancer death rate in half over the next 25 years.