Here are the newly published projected statistics for 2016:
The increase in cancer cases/deaths is due to the fact that some types of cancers are on the rise and the U.S. population is an increasingly aging population (the major risk factor for cancer is age).
Are we going to do anything about these alarming numbers?
During his last State of the Union address, President Obama said, “For the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the family we can still save, let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all.” The statement sounds great, but it also reveals how much our politicians do not know. First, advanced cancer is almost never cured. Second, we have already heard this urgent plea to fight cancer 45 years ago. Do we need to re-announce the war on cancer proclaimed by President Nixon in 1971 because we had all forgotten about it?
Let us analyze what is really going on:
Someone has just remembered that we are still at war … WITH CANCER, so it might be a good time to start a new offensive. In this sudden offensive, Joe Biden will carry the torch, so to speak. Biden has already expressed his will to “break down silos and bring all the cancer fighters together—to work together, share information, and end cancer as we know it.” So far, so good – everyone knows that if there are any silos in the world, the proportions of the silos in biomedical research exceed anyone’s expectations.
Cancer researchers are working in strictly secretive atmosphere (within their own bubbles), and there is a logical explanation for this maniacal behavior: the researchers’ performance is evaluated based upon their publications and funding. However, there would be no publications, funding, and recognition/fame (to summarize: career), if the researcher cannot prove that his ideas were original ideas (versus collaborative ideas). So, bringing down silos might be a mission impossible in the current academic atmosphere.
Let us dig further into the details of this last government-initiated stint to fight cancer. My information is based upon this publication. Here is the summary:
1. Who is allowed to talk to the politicians (e.g., Joe Biden)?
Are we going to do anything about these alarming numbers?
During his last State of the Union address, President Obama said, “For the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the family we can still save, let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all.” The statement sounds great, but it also reveals how much our politicians do not know. First, advanced cancer is almost never cured. Second, we have already heard this urgent plea to fight cancer 45 years ago. Do we need to re-announce the war on cancer proclaimed by President Nixon in 1971 because we had all forgotten about it?
Let us analyze what is really going on:
Someone has just remembered that we are still at war … WITH CANCER, so it might be a good time to start a new offensive. In this sudden offensive, Joe Biden will carry the torch, so to speak. Biden has already expressed his will to “break down silos and bring all the cancer fighters together—to work together, share information, and end cancer as we know it.” So far, so good – everyone knows that if there are any silos in the world, the proportions of the silos in biomedical research exceed anyone’s expectations.
Cancer researchers are working in strictly secretive atmosphere (within their own bubbles), and there is a logical explanation for this maniacal behavior: the researchers’ performance is evaluated based upon their publications and funding. However, there would be no publications, funding, and recognition/fame (to summarize: career), if the researcher cannot prove that his ideas were original ideas (versus collaborative ideas). So, bringing down silos might be a mission impossible in the current academic atmosphere.
Let us dig further into the details of this last government-initiated stint to fight cancer. My information is based upon this publication. Here is the summary:
1. Who is allowed to talk to the politicians (e.g., Joe Biden)?
- AACR: The American Association for Cancer Research, organization that funds exclusively research in cancer treatment, despite the statement that the organization’s mission is to prevent and cure cancer through research, education, communication, and collaboration. Just visit their link to funding opportunities to find out where the focus is.
- ASCO: The American Society of Clinical Oncology, clearly an organization concerned with implementing cancer care and treatment, not prevention.
- Patrick Soon-Shiong, an LA oncologist and billionaire, who announced an industry-led moonshot aimed at developing further cancer immunotherapy (this is self-explanatory).
Any unifying theme? Everyone who is talking to Joe Biden is concerned about CANCER TREATMENT, not PREVENTION.
2. What are the politicians (e.g., Joe Biden) told?
2. What are the politicians (e.g., Joe Biden) told?
- The AACR scientists told Washington, D.C., to expand the current genome-sequencing project (led by NCI at NIH) and to start covering the cost of genomic tumor profiling for cancer patients.
- ASCO told Washington, D.C., to clear up the red tape that reduces the number of cancer patients enrolled in clinical trials.
- ASCO and AACR want to pool data from cancer patients to facilitate the understanding of what treatments work and on which patients.
Any unifying theme? All listed goals relate to CANCER TREATMENT, not PREVENTION.
3. First developments:
On February 1, The White House announced that it wants to spend $1 billion to jump-start Vice President Joe Biden’s cancer moonshot.
This announcement will bring the already manifested feeding frenzy among "interested parties" to its peak. But do you know who usually wins in a feeding frenzy? The ones who are already well-fed and strong – the exclusive club of cancer fighters – those involved in CANCER TREATMENT, not PREVENTION. Because in the past 45 years (since the war on cancer was announced in 1971), we have poured money more or less only in TREATMENT, not PREVENTION. The same people who have received funds in the past are now getting ready to gorge on more money.
3. First developments:
On February 1, The White House announced that it wants to spend $1 billion to jump-start Vice President Joe Biden’s cancer moonshot.
This announcement will bring the already manifested feeding frenzy among "interested parties" to its peak. But do you know who usually wins in a feeding frenzy? The ones who are already well-fed and strong – the exclusive club of cancer fighters – those involved in CANCER TREATMENT, not PREVENTION. Because in the past 45 years (since the war on cancer was announced in 1971), we have poured money more or less only in TREATMENT, not PREVENTION. The same people who have received funds in the past are now getting ready to gorge on more money.
The feeding frenzy is already peaking, and it is clear who will profit from it. The $1 billion will go directly where the other billions of dollars have gone in the past 45 years: for CANCER TREATMENT not PREVENTION. What was our return on this hefty investment in the past? More or less, the most valuable thing we have acquired after so many billions of dollars is our realization that advanced cancer cannot be cured, and that prevention and early detection could be the most effective means to fight cancer. Some cancers are not as "preventable' as others, and we need to continue working on cure, but the main focus on prevention would have the greatest impact.
However, based upon the published information on who is talking to Biden and what is being said, it seems that we will continue trudging in the same wrong direction, with a heavy focus on cancer treatment. Do I hope that Biden's moonshot for cancer will emphasize on prevention as the author of this post hopes? I have to live with some hope; however, it seems that the hope is slim.
If you want to know why I emphasize on PREVENTION, read this series of posts.
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