Hope for Cancer Patients
- President Biden has relaunched the Cancer Moonshot program which was initially launched when he served as vice president under Barack Obama. The program is meant to “end cancer as we know it.”
- The American Cancer Society (ACS) 2022 reports that while cancer diagnoses are expected to increase, deaths caused by cancer are continuing to drop. This is due to advances in research, treatment, and screening methods.
- Some of the big advancements made last year include more approvals for immune checkpoint inhibitors, CAR T-cell therapy and KRAS inhibitors.
Biden felt it was important to use February 2, 2022, to lay out his agenda for fighting cancer. As many people in the SurvivorNet family want to know every piece of news about what goes on in the world of cancer, we thought we would summarize the announcement and let our community make up its own mind about the developments.
Read More- A newly created "cancer cabinet" which will include many federal departments, offices and agencies in order to help establish and make progress on Cancer Moonshot goals.
- Calling on congress to fund the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) program to “improve the U.S. government's capabilities to speed research that can improve human health to improve our ability to prevent, detect, and treat a range of diseases including cancer, infectious diseases, Alzheimer's disease, and many others.”
- Calling on scientists and medical experts to share data related to cancer to help make advancements in cancer care.
- “Respectfully calling on” people living with cancer and their families and caregivers to keep sharing their diverse experiences with cancer for much needed input to develop new approaches to cancer care.
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Biden also said the program will address health inequities that exist within the cancer world “in access to cancer screening, diagnostics and treatment across race, gender, region and resources.”
“Get a screening scheduled, whether it’s in the office at home or through telehealth visit because the Affordable Care Act now will cover most private insurance plans as well as Medicare and Medicaid to cover the recommended preventive care screening free of charge,” he said in his address Wednesday. “[I’m also] calling on companies, health care providers, nonprofits and others to step up, including developing mobile units. And pop up clinics to reach people where they live.”
He finished on a positive of note of reminding the audience that a big part of this program is hope.
“So my plea to you scientists is share data as best you can,” he said. “My plea to my members in Congress is let’s fund this particular program, and focus on it ’til we beat it. To the American people, keep the hope alive. There is hope. There is hope.”
Hope in the World of Cancer
And while this news seems like a promising step forward, it’s important to look at progress we can see today. The American Cancer Society recently reported that deaths occurring from cancer are continuing to drop. Between 1991 to 2019, cancer deaths dropped 32 percent which points to incredible advancements in cancer research, screening methods and treatment. Among some of the most notable screening advancements was the early detection of lung cancer, which is the most deadly form of cancer affecting Americans. Furthermore, the ACS noted that death rates among those battling prostate and breast cancer have also seen a significant decrease thanks to thorough screening methods.
And even though nearly two million cancer diagnoses are expected to occur among Americans in 2022, an increase from 2021, according to the American Cancer Society, it's worth noting that the number of cancer diagnoses increasing may be due to delayed screenings as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to an October 2020 survey from SurvivorNet, 30 percent of women said they delayed their mammograms in fear of COVID-19. Mammograms and other cancer screenings are the best way to detect signs of cancer early, and if these screenings are delayed, can lead to not only more diagnoses, but later stage diagnoses.
However, even with a late stage diagnosis, treatment advancements have helped those battling advanced cancer still have options. And we’ve even seen remarkable improvements in 2021 as the global pandemic raged on. Some of last year’s top advancements include improvements to a therapy method that re-trains your immune system to make it a better cancer fighter called CAR T-cell therapy and the approval of a new treatment for lung cancer called KRAS inhibitors which target a specific genetic mutation (KRAS) that occurs in some patients with non-small cell lung cancer.
"Each doctor or clinician tends to have his or her favorite advances depending … on the field. If I had to choose broadly in oncology, I think there are three or four themes. One is the increasing role of immune checkpoint inhibitors," Dr. Wui-Jin Koh, senior vice president and chief medical officer at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, previously told SurvivorNet of cancer treatment advancements seen last year.
But even with all of these advancement and many reasons for hope, it’s just as important as ever to make sure you’re advocating for your health.
"If I had any advice for you following a cancer diagnosis, it would be, first, to seek out multiple opinions as to the best care," Dr. Steven Rosenberg, National Cancer Institute Chief of Surgery, previously told SurvivorNet. "Because finding a doctor who is up to the latest of information is important."
Contributing: Shelby Black
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