Statement from Prevent Cancer Foundation in support of President & Dr. Biden’s Cancer Moonshot
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kyra Meister
kyra.meister@preventcancer.org
703-836-1746
Alexandria, Va. – The Prevent Cancer Foundation® applauds President and Dr. Biden’s decision to reignite the Cancer Moonshot. Their ambitious goals to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years, improve the experience of people and their families living with and surviving cancer and ultimately “end cancer as we know it” offers an extensive opportunity to make progress in preventing cancer, detecting it early and drastically decreasing the number of lives lost to cancer every year.
The Foundation strongly supports President Biden’s call to action for cancer screenings to be available across all populations to prevent cancer or diagnose it sooner, jumpstarting progress on the more than 9.5 million screenings that were cancelled or postponed in the United States as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A specific call to action on cancer screening and early detection will be instrumental in achieving the goals laid out in the president’s new Cancer Moonshot.
“We are grateful President Biden has made prevention a priority within his Cancer Moonshot mission and look forward to continuing our work to support this important initiative,” said Prevent Cancer Foundation’s Founder and CEO Carolyn “Bo” Aldigé. “Routine cancer screening detects cancer early—even if you have no signs or symptoms—and increases the likelihood your treatment will be successful. That is why in 2020 we launched Back on the Books, a multi-year education campaign to encourage everyone to get their missed or postponed appointments rescheduled. It will take everyone working together to increase cancer screening rates and achieve the Cancer Moonshot goals.”
Other recently announced Moonshot initiatives include addressing inequities, utilizing personalized medicine, speeding progress against the most deadly and rare cancers, supporting patients, caregivers and survivors and learning from all patients.
The passage of the Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act will be another necessary step toward achieving the objectives of the renewed Cancer Moonshot. Last year, the Prevent Cancer Foundation led more than 300 patient advocacy organizations in calling on Congress to prioritize this legislation, which would create a pathway for seniors’ access to multi-cancer screening tests once they are approved by the FDA. We appreciate President Biden’s commitment of tasking federal agencies to study and evaluate multi-cancer early detection tests and we encourage Congress to act on this important legislation.
The Prevent Cancer Foundation is proud to stand with President Biden, Dr. Biden and Vice President Harris on the Cancer Moonshot to accelerate the rate of progress against cancer.
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About the Prevent Cancer Foundation®
The Prevent Cancer Foundation® is the only U.S. nonprofit organization focused solely on saving lives across all populations through cancer prevention and early detection. Through research, education, outreach and advocacy, we have helped countless people avoid a cancer diagnosis or detect their cancer early enough to be successfully treated.
The Foundation is rising to meet the challenge of reducing cancer deaths by 40% by 2035. To achieve this, we are committed to investing $20 million for innovative technologies to detect cancer early and advance multi-cancer screening, $10 million to expand cancer screening and vaccination access to medically underserved communities, and $10 million to educate the public about screening and vaccination options.
For more information, please visit www.preventcancer.org.