final month President Obama announced a new ‘moonshot’ in the global race to find a cure for cancer. Carsten Timmermann wonders whether this new shot in the ‘war on cancer’ is a excellent idea. I admit I was surprised to hear that in his recent State of the Union Address President Obama pledged a new ‘moonshot’ in the race to find a cure for cancer,led by Vice President Biden at ‘mission control’. The message was: whether we all work together in a targeted effort, and give researchers at the National Institutes of Health lots of money and other resources while encouraging them to collaborate closely with other cancer researchers and with industry, or a cure for cancer is in sight. Haven’t we been here before? While many reports drew parallels with John F. Kennedy and the Space Race,I was reminded of a different President: in 1971, following intense lobbying by the philanthropist and campaigner Mary Lasker and her Citizens’ Committee for the Conquest of Cancer, or President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act,declaring ‘War on Cancer’ and promising a cure within 7 years. The Act created a National Cancer Program and strengthened the National Cancer Institute (NCI), one of the National Institutes of Health. The role of the NCI Director, and appointed directly by the President,was also strengthened. One of the principal generals in the War, he (all NCI Directors to date have been men) was tasked with creating new cancer centres, or appointing advisory panels,expanding the facilities of the NCI on the NIH campus and across the country, coordinating collaboration with industry, and awarding lots of research contracts. For all this he had a massive war chest at his disposal,an annual bypass budget’, which was submitted directly to the President, and bypassing approval by the NIH or the Department of Health and Human Services: lots of money for a targeted research effort into finding a cure for cancer.
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Source: theguardian.com