The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently released the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975–2014. According to the report, cancer death rates fell for 11 of the 16 most common cancers in men and 13 of the 16 most common cancers in women. Death rates fell for female breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and prostate cancers, among others. The report also notes that incidences of cancer decreased in men but plateaued for women in the same time period.

To a crowd of more than 1,300 attendees at the South by Southwest Conference (SXSW) in Austin, TX, on March 12, 2017, former Vice President Joe Biden announced that the Biden Foundation, his new nonprofit organization, would be continuing the work of the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative, which he led during his final year as vice president.

In collaboration with the former President Obama’s health policy team and the Cancer Moonshot, myself and several other members of ONS were invited to attend a community oncology event as part of the White House’s Making Health Care Better series.  The event, “Addressing the Cancer Challenge: Progress in Research, Prevention, Coverage, and Quality,” took place at the White House complex on January 11, 2017. It was by invitation only from the White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force.

After the dust settled from the presidential election, Congress returned to Washington to complete some remaining legislative work before the new year. Among the newly approve legislation, the 21st Century Cures Act was passed, and it aims to have major implications for expanding oncology research in the coming months and years.

Your ONS Board of Directors met face to face in January for a rich and productive meeting. Following are highlights from our discussions.
 

On October 17, 2016, Vice President Joe Biden addressed President Obama and the rest of the United States as he presented the National Cancer Moonshot taskforce’s report of the work that’s been accomplished since its inception in January 2016. The report highlights a number of strategic initiatives, including the 10 recommended areas of scientific advancement the Blue Ribbon Panel identified in September.

Having recently been appointed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) point-person on Vice President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative, Richard Pazdur, MD, the FDA’s acting director of the Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE), blogged about the agency’s efforts to make sure patients and providers know about the progress in cancer prevention and treatment.

In January 2016, President Obama appointed Vice President Joe Biden as the chair of a new national initiative to “end cancer as we know it.” Dubbed the Cancer Moonshot, the goal is to make the same advances in five years that would usually take 10 to achieve.

Clinical trials can be a great source of valuable information to drive oncology forward. Unfortunately, only 5% of eligible patients enroll in clinical trials. The National Cancer Moonshot Initiative and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have both set in motion plans to increase clinical trial participation with the hopes that oncology advancements make it to patients faster and more efficiently.

On September 7, 2016, the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB) and the director of the National Cancer Institute released a report outlining the recommendations provided by the intensive work done by the National Cancer Moonshot’s Blue Ribbon Panel. ONS member and past president Deborah K. Mayer, PhD, RN, AOCN®, FAAN, was part of the Blue Ribbon Panel working on the recommendations and knows that nurses will play an integral role in implementing these changes.

The National Cancer Institute has partnered with Foundation Medicine, Inc., in a new effort to expand the understanding of genomics and clinical data. This is a core component of the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative that President Obama announced in January 2016.

In June of 2016, ONS and other partners of the Friends of Cancer Research Organization called for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) formation of an Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE). In the weeks since, the FDA has announced the formation of the OCE and appointed the program’s lead.

Cancer Moonshot Summit Kicked Off in DC

June 29, 2016, marked the first official Cancer Moonshot Summit in Washington, DC. Hosted by Vice President Joe Biden, the summit brought together the nation’s leading oncology experts, researchers, healthcare professionals, survivors, private industry professionals and more. Many from the cancer community convened in DC with the hopes of advancing progress towards a cure.

President Obama, during his final State of the Union address on January 12, 2016, said, “Let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all.” From that challenge, the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative was born with Vice President Joe Biden appointed to the helm. A new national endeavor to develop massive strides in cancer research and treatment would take the brightest minds and most dedicated workers in oncology and throughout the country.

Since the announcement of the National Cancer Moonshot, there have been great ideas abound. But how do you get them to the right people who can best direct federal funding for cancer research? The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has helped streamline the process by creating a new online platform for submitting ideas to the Blue Ribbon Panel (BRP).

Discover all the happenings on Capitol Hill and how ONS continues to advocate for oncology nurses in the national healthcare arena.

Political policies, especially those concerning health care and cancer care, are constantly changing. It’s hard to stay up to date with the constant evolution of events on Capitol Hill. ONS works to make certain that oncology nurses are represented during discussions that impact their practice, as well as the whole healthcare arena. Learn more about the happenings on the Hill that potentially could impact oncology nurses.

In his last state of the union address of his presidency, on January 12, President Obama announced a new “moonshot” funding plan and asked Vice President Biden to lead the initiative to eliminate cancer as we know it. Some of us remember the original moonshot funding request made by President Kennedy, almost 55 years ago, to put a man on the moon before the decade ended and other initiatives. The cancer moonshot goal is to achieve a decade’s worth of advances in five years. Critical to this happening is the elimination of siloes.

Capitol Hill is a dynamic, fluid atmosphere, especially for oncology nursing advocacy. ONS is constantly working to provide nurses with a voice at a federal level by representing them in political arenas in Washington, DC, and around the country. Find out what ONS does to advocate for its members and oncology nurses across the United States.

In his final State of the Union address, President Obama announced a national initiative to be coordinated by Vice President Joe Biden that is being referred to as the “cancer moonshot.” The goal is to cure cancer, or at least to make major advances in attempt to better understand cancer, its elements, and how best to defeat the disease.