Panel, Conference Presentation
Public Health, Medical Research and the Cancer Moonshot: A Collaboration to Change the World
- Cancer research is expected to achieve remarkable progress over the next decade, though a complete cure is considered unlikely within that timeframe, with a final scientific agenda planned for maturity by summer and initiative operations anticipated to begin in FY17 in October contingent on congressional funding.
- A proposed federal funding package of $680 million for the NIH and $75 million for the FDA in FY18 is viewed as a potential catalyst, following a $2 billion increase in NIH funding this year which aims to transition from a one-year event to a sustainable model.
- The initiative plans to operationalize within months by establishing a public-private partnership model similar to the Accelerating Medicines Partnership, potentially accelerating drug registration and approval through FDA collaboration, while a Precision Medicine Initiative pilot between Vanderbilt and Verily was funded ten days ago.
- The Precision Medicine Initiative, focusing on virtually all diseases regarding prevention, early detection, and treatment, anticipates a cohort of one million Americans requiring several years to build before breakthroughs occur, with an estimated cost of several hundred dollars per person and a strict requirement for demographic diversity through federally qualified health centers.
- Technology and communication are predicted to drive dramatic acceleration in understanding disease underpinnings and guaranteeing individual and collective health regarding nutrition and cancer risk, though incremental cumulative changes are acknowledged as necessary steps toward disruptive transformation for broader populations.
- Public health science is expected to become an integral component focused on "precision prevention" for at-risk communities to ensure equity, while pharmaceutical industry partners are anticipated to demonstrate productivity through technology-sharing arrangements that may yield immediate healthcare cost paybacks.
- Risks include the potential for R&D budget cuts if the industry fails to effectively address prevention and wellness, as well as the challenge of explaining the value of these initiatives to the public to maintain high attention and facilitate faster participant recruitment.
- Long-term health outcomes are predicted to improve if individuals can age healthily to 70, with critical investment required at every age to maintain the health of the older population, while a collective demographic note identifies 80% as the percentage of Americans over age 100 who are women.