Price tag for Biden cancer ‘moonshot’ at $1B in Obama budget

A presidential memorandum signed by Obama on Thursday says the task force’s goal is to double the rate of progress on treatment and prevention, a benchmark Biden first introduced earlier this month in tandem with Obama’s State of the Union address.

President Barack Obama will ask Congress for $755 million for fiscal year 2017, and will try to spend $195 million this year to get things started. Biden’s son, Beau, died of brain cancer last May.

Vice President Biden led the first official meeting of his Cancer Moonshot team on Monday with representatives from NIH and the National Cancer Institute to begin laying the groundwork for this program, according to a new White House blog post. On January 30, the administration released a fact sheet on its Precision Medicine Initiative, which includes cancer research, but it proposes just $215 million in the 2016 budget, and only an additional $70 million for NIC. The vast majority would go toward the NIH, while $75 million would be earmarked for data work at the Food and Drug Administration.

“Our job is to clear out the bureaucratic hurdles – and let science happen”, Biden said. The White House did not immediately explain where the remaining $50 million would come from.

A senior Obama administration official told reporters on Monday: “With something as big as cancer, we have to think big”. The White House said the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments would also boost investment in cancer research.

Much of the funding is coming through various government sources, and President Obama is attempting to bolster the war chest for this effort by allocating federal funding. “And we’re hoping for a similar outcome when it comes to fighting cancer”.

“Our new survey finding illustrates that individuals across the political spectrum view the “moonshot” initiative as an all hands on deck endeavor that is worthy of taxpayer support”, she added.

Enhanced sharing of data, genomic analysis of tumors and research into pediatric cancer will also be areas of focus.