Opinion: The Cancer Moonshot will never take off without economists and finance experts
In February, President Biden announced the reboot of the Cancer Moonshot and vowed to reduce cancer mortality by 50 percent in the next 25 years. It’s a goal that’s both lofty and achievable — but only if the advances in science are accompanied by progress in controlling costs and innovations in financing cancer treatment.
Research and public health advances over the last three decades have already reduced cancer mortality by about one-third. Vaccines can now prevent many cases of cervical, head and neck, and liver cancer. Breast cancer can be detected early with currently available screening tests and cure and survival rates increase every year. Lung cancer and metastatic melanoma, which were once a death sentence, can often now be effectively treated for years or decades with these newer therapies. Ninety percent of those with childhood leukemias are cured, and patients with one type of adult leukemia have near-normal life expectancy.
