Vice President Joe Biden appeared at ASCO on Monday, announcing a new method of sharing data among oncology researchers and a hope for “curing cancer” with the White House’s “Cancer Moonshot Initiative.”
There have been enormous strides in effective cancer therapies in recent years, especially in the development of targeted therapies. Creating better tools for sharing information is a much-needed step in the research community. However, we’re a bit concerned when we see announcements like this. We fear that the use of phrases like “cancer moonshot” encourage the general public to continue thinking of cancer as a single disease only requiring that one magic bullet.
As our clinicians know all too well, oncologic conditions -- cancers and pre-cancerous conditions -- are complex in presentation, development and treatment. Progress in understanding and treating the disease in its myriad forms is accomplished through slow, painstaking work and study. Miracles need not apply.