Latest news with #CancerMoonshot
The Hill
21-05-2025
- Health
- The Hill
Universities grapple with Trump cuts to cancer research
The Big Story Cancer research has become an unintended casualty of the Trump administration's broad cuts to research grants and its fight with higher education, with researchers worried it'll take decades to recover if something doesn't change. © Adobe Stock Experts fear four years of these sorts of attacks will take decades to recover from and stall the progress of treatments, even as cancer rates rise. The slash to cancer research comes after former President Biden, who revealed he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer this week, aimed for major medical advancements through his 'Cancer Moonshot' initiative. 'I see a large number of people who should be at the great universities over the next 10-15 years trying to figure out how to bail out right now, and I'm afraid we're going to lose a generation of America's best researchers, and that's going to be a huge setback for us,' said Otis Brawley, an expert in cancer prevention and control at Johns Hopkins University. Studies are getting hit on multiple fronts, particularly at schools being targeted by the administration due to alleged inaction on antisemitism or an unwillingness to meet President Trump's demands. The president of Harvard University, which is suing over its cuts, has warned numerous times the billions of dollars in funding frozen will significantly affect medical advancements. In March, Harvard announced a hiring freeze amid the financial uncertainty under Trump. And along with the school-specific funding blocks, cancer research grants have been affected by cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). An analysis in JAMA earlier this month found the NIH alone cut almost $1.5 billion in funding in less than 40 days. Read more from The Hill's Lexi Lonas Cochran here. Welcome to The Hill's Health Care newsletter, we're Nathaniel Weixel, Joseph Choi and Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. Essential Reads How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond: Wildfire smoke exposure is harming pregnant patients who have limited access to health care: Study The U.S. health care system is ill-prepared to treat pregnant patients and their infants who have endured the impacts of wildfire smoke exposure, a new study finds. Many residents of communities prone to the proliferation of wildfire smoke lack geographic access to the treatments they might need, according to the study, published in the American Public Health Association's Medical Care journal. 'The … Officials warn of measles exposure at Shakira concert in New Jersey New Jersey officials warned of 'potential exposures' to measles after a new case was identified in a non-state resident who was infectious while attending a Shakira concert at MetLife Stadium last week. The New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) issued a statement on Tuesday telling residents 'to be aware of the symptoms of this highly contagious virus and to ensure they are up to date with the measles, mumps, and rubella … Biden White House aides 'suspicious' of whether or not diagnosis is 'coincidental': Author The co-author of a new book about the end of the Biden administration suggested even some of former President Biden's close allies have raised suspicions about the timing of the former president's cancer diagnosis. 'Of the diagnosis, I would say that even people — and my reporting with my colleague Marc Caputo says — even people that worked for Joe Biden in Joe Biden's White House are suspicious of whether or not it is coincidental … Around the Nation Local and state headlines on health care: What We're Reading Health news we've flagged from other outlets: What Others are Reading Most read stories on The Hill right now: Judge scolds DOJ in dismissing ICE facility trespassing charge against Newark mayor A federal judge chided the Department of Justice (DOJ) during a Wednesday hearing where he agreed to dismiss a trespassing charge against Newark Mayor … Read more Trump hits South African president with video 'genocide' claims: 5 takeaways President Trump's meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa took an unexpected turn Wednesday when Trump showed a video filled with … Read more What People Think Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill: Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The Most Common Kind of Cancer Patient in America Is the One We Study the Least
Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, his office said in a statement on Sunday. The diagnosis occurred last week, following a urinary screening that revealed a small nodule in his prostate, which revealed the aggressive Stage 4 prostate cancer, according to the statement. The office added, 'The cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.' Biden released his first statement regarding his diagnosis on Monday. 'Cancer touches us all,' the 82-year-old wrote on X. 'Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.' Biden's cancer diagnosis is equal parts tragic and ironic. It's tragic because a cancer diagnosis is always tragic. It means long treatments that can be painful and debilitating, lots of waiting and worrying, and the very real possibility that you might not survive, even under the best circumstances. The former president will have access to excellent care without fear of medical debt—something not every American can say. But that guarantees very little. On top of that, in 2015 Biden's older son, Beau Biden, died at 46, after being diagnosed with one of the most aggressive types of brain cancer. Biden's experience in supporting and eventually losing his son greatly influenced his decision to spearhead the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot, a research initiative that aims to cut cancer death rates in half by 2047. The project was initially launched in 2016 under the Obama administration and later reignited in 2022, under then-President Biden. It received $1.8 billion in funding through the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act to support more than 250 research projects and 70 programs with the goal of supporting patients and their families and ultimately ending cancer for good. But therein lies the irony: The vast majority of cancer trials exclude older patients like Joe Biden, despite the fact that most patients who get cancer are over the age of 65. Although the Food and Drug Administration released guidance around the reignition of the Cancer Moonshot to help the issue, it remains a systemic problem. Cancer can affect anyone, but it disproportionately comes for older people. Roughly 60 percent of all cancer diagnoses and about 70 percent of cancer deaths occur in patients 65 or older. Yet a 2024 study published in the journal BMC Cancer examined 7,747 clinical trials on cancer and found that only 25 percent of cancer trial participants are over 65 years old. A 2019 study in JAMA Oncology found that in clinical trials the median age of participants with common cancers such as breast, prostate, and lung cancer was nearly six and a half years younger than the median age of people actually diagnosed with the disease. Even though prostate cancer trial participants skewed slightly older due to the cancer type, participants were still three and a half years younger than the average prostate cancer patient. There are several factors at play here. For one, a lot of clinical trials have strict criteria to determine who exactly gets to participate in cancer studies. Supriya Mohile is a geriatric oncologist with the University of Rochester Medical Center whose research sheds light on the underrepresentation of older adults in cancer trials. She tells Slate that although studies have gotten better about not restricting on the basis of chronological age, older adults are still underrepresented due to eligibility criteria that favor fitter patients. 'We don't do a good job assessing fitness for older patients with cancer,' Mohile said. 'Sometimes we see older people in the clinic, and one doctor might say, 'Oh, you're 80. You're too old for this clinical trial,' even when they're pretty fit and they don't have a lot of other things going on.' She puts it another way: Clinicians often rely on an 'eyeball test' to assess patients—but that type of appraisal is subjective, imperfect, and likely to vary from clinician to clinician. She highlights the need for more objective measures when determining someone's eligibility for clinical trials like the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment, which is a tool to evaluate function, psychological status, cognition, and physical strength in older adults. Often, those with complications related to age, including comorbidities and reduced organ function, are excluded from trials. Older folks are also less likely to be able to tolerate experimental treatments, which frequently results in their exclusion. This age disparity is an issue not just for cancer research, but also in other fields, including cardiovascular, neurological, and psychiatric studies. This causes blind spots in our medical systems and treatments, which are designed without older bodies in mind. Clinicians base the drug doses, side effects, and expected outcomes on younger participants—which can result in older patients becoming over- or under-treated, experiencing unexpected side effects, and leaving their doctors guessing as to their care outcomes. Mohile notes that, following the release of the new FDA guidance in 2022 on including more older adults, she worked with a multidisciplinary team that included academics, clinicians, and advocates in the National Cancer Institute and FDA to develop a series of articles that outline best practices to improve recruitment of older adults for clinical trials. However, the recommendations were just that. Age-related disparities in cancer research and health care as a whole remain in place. 'The challenge was that there's no carrot or stick,' Mohile said. She added, 'I don't think it's as much as it needs to be still—and I don't know if that'll change.' Would Biden, at the age of 82, even qualify for the trials funded under his own initiative? Mohile stops short of ruling it out (and notes that an experimental treatment might not be the best course of action for him anyway). Still, the fact is that cancer research is built largely around younger, healthier bodies. Aside from the findings of the research, the trials themselves can be bastions of hope, and enrolling in them can be a last resort for many with cancer—providing access to experimental treatments that give them a fighting chance. When you get turned away from that, it can be devastating, no matter how old you are. This is ageism, pure and simple—and it's a problem in not just medicine but society in general. We devalue older adults. We associate increased age with decline and irrelevance. Older people are seen as a burden rather than members of society who deserve dignity, respect, and attention, just like anyone else. Economic incentives deprioritize the complex, long-term care these folks require—and encourage our willful ignorance of their needs. Yet we have all the more reason to design medicine that actually accommodates the complexities of aging bodies. If most older patients have a comorbidity, then that's not a reason to exclude them from trials—it's the reason to include them. It doesn't matter if it's complicated and expensive. Medicine shouldn't be designed around 'ideal' bodies; it should rise to meet real ones. It's not a stretch to say that the future of society depends on our research on and attention to older adults, including those suffering from multiple ailments at a time. The global population is getting very old, very quickly. Those age 65 and older are the fastest-growing demographic group on Earth, according to the United Nations. In the U.S. alone, that cohort will make up roughly 25 percent of the population by 2060, compared with just 16.8 percent today. It's not a question of if. Aging—and all of the diseases and health complications that come with it—is one of the most complex and impactful issues of the future. The issue isn't going to get any better anytime soon either. President Donald Trump, who is also a geriatric politician who would greatly benefit from research into age-related diseases, has been busy in the first few months of his second term taking a massive knife to health care research. He cut cancer research funding by 31 percent earlier this year and also reduced the budgets for crucial research bodies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation by billions of dollars. This is on top of the pause on all federal research grants, a break that has resulted in widespread disruption and uncertainty for ongoing clinical research. This, like so much of American governance, is wildly out of step with where the world is heading. The dream of the Cancer Moonshot is a future where cancer research reflects its patients, and not what saves the most money. It takes courage to rethink whom our science and health care is designed for—and whom we consider worth saving. However, that is accomplished not just by offering FDA guidance and recommendations—especially because, as we've seen, so much of it can be undone by the whims of the executive branch. What is needed, Mohile explains, is an act of Congress that would make it a requirement to take older adults into account when designing treatments. She points to bills that have been passed by Congress, such as the 2017 RACE for Children Act and those that require pediatric testing of cancer drugs. 'There's not a congressional mandate for older adults,' she noted. 'It's not required.' So if the Moonshot and other large-scale efforts really want to adhere to their moral promise of eliminating cancer, they should actively center the kind of person most likely to face the disease: somebody like Joe Biden.
CBS News
20-05-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Biden's "Cancer Moonshot" hit by Trump's cuts to research at Harvard and Columbia
Steep cuts to federal medical research grants this year have now disrupted millions in awards once backed by former President Joe Biden's "Cancer Moonshot" initiative, after the Trump administration froze funding to Columbia University and Harvard University over their handling of campus protests about the war in Gaza. Biden revealed Sunday he has been diagnosed with an "aggressive form" of prostate cancer. His "Moonshot" initiative was already personal because his son Beau died of brain cancer. Multiple cancer scientists at Harvard University say they have seen their National Institutes of Health funding evaporate in recent weeks due to the funding freeze. "We are not allowed to charge anything on these grants and I understand that Harvard hasn't been reimbursed for any charges to these grants for at least 30 days," Joan Brugge, professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School, told CBS News in an email. Brugge said the university had informed her that her research into mutations linked to breast cancer, as well as studying the recurrence of ovarian cancer, was among some 350 federal grants terminated at Harvard Medical School. Harvard bioengineering professor David Mooney said all cancer research funding from NIH's National Cancer Institute for his team had also been cut off, including multiple grants to post-doctoral research fellows. The Trump administration also terminated millions awarded for developing anti-cancer immunity at the university's immuno-engineering center, which was launched in 2020 as part of the "Cancer Moonshot" initiative. Mooney's lab was the first to engineer an "implantable biomaterial cancer vaccine" to retrain the immune system to destroy cancer cells, the university says. "This will dramatically diminish our ability to make progress in developing cancer immunotherapies," Mooney said in an email. Under versions of the cancer initiative launched by Biden first as vice president in 2016 — and later rebooted in 2022 after he was elected president — the federal government poured more than $1 billion into a broad array of research, prevention and treatment projects. That money came largely from the 21st Century Cures Act passed by Congress in 2016, which went to more than 100 different institutions. It included millions awarded to support the work of cancer centers around the country. That also included a long-running award to support the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Now federal records show the award to support Columbia's cancer center has also been terminated. "Anti-Semitism — like racism — is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history's most deadly plagues," Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a March statement, announcing plans to look for cuts to Columbia's funding. The Trump administration has targeted universities for their handling of pro-Palestinian protests on campus, alleging they let antisemitism go unchecked, which the universities dispute. NIH records show the money at Columbia's cancer center had gone to a broad array of projects, ranging from clinical studies to administrative costs. Beyond the Trump administration's cuts to Columbia and Harvard, one other award directly linked to the Biden cancer initiative is also listed as terminated: a project funded at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute to "address cancer disparities among Indigenous sexual and gender minority populations" with films, outreach and illustrations. Other projects funded by NIH's National Cancer Institute have also had their funding canceled after officials deemed they ran afoul of other White House executive orders that took aim at topics like "gender ideology extremism" and "diversity, equity and inclusion" programs. Support and communications staff at the cancer institute were also not spared in Kennedy and DOGE's layoffs earlier this year. Senate Democrats have criticized Kennedy and President Trump for cuts to NIH's grants this year, which they said in a report amounts to at least $15.1 million in cancer funding lost. "Trump's war on science is an attack against anyone who has ever loved someone with cancer," Sen. Bernie Sanders said earlier this month.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Obama Sends a Message to the Biden Family After Bombshell Cancer Diagnosis
Former President Barack Obama responded to news of Joe Biden's aggressive prostate cancer with a message praising his former vice president for his 'trademark resolve and grace.' 'Michelle and I are thinking of the entire Biden family,' Obama wrote in a post on X. 'Nobody has done more to find breakthrough treatments for cancer in all its forms than Joe, and I am certain he will fight this challenge with his trademark resolve and grace. We pray for a fast and full recovery.' Biden led the Obama administration's Cancer Moonshot initiative, which he also reinstated in 2022 after he was elected president. Its mission was to slash the cancer death rate by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years, preventing 4 million deaths and improving the lives of patients and their families. Biden, 82, was inspired to lead the Cancer Moonshot initiative following the 2015 death of his oldest son, Beau Biden, at age 46 from a rare form of brain cancer. Obama's message came soon after Biden's team announced the former president had been diagnosed Friday with prostate cancer 'characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.' 'While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,' Biden's office said in a statement. The former president was in Philadelphia last week for a routine physical exam when a 'small nodule' was discovered on his prostate that 'necessitated further evaluation,' his office said at the time. His former Vice President Kamala Harris wrote in a post on X that she and her husband Doug Emhoff were 'saddened' by the news, and keeping the Biden family in their prayers. 'Joe is a fighter—and I know he will face this challenge with the same strength, resilience, and optimism that have always defined his life and leadership,' Harris wrote. Former President Bill Clinton also praised Biden as a 'fighter' in a social media post and said he and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were 'rooting for him.' 'I'm thinking of the Bidens as they take on cancer, a disease they've done so much to try to spare other families from,' Hillary Clinton wrote in a post of her own. 'Wishing you a speedy, full recovery.' Even President Donald Trump managed to send a surprisingly normal message of support, though his supporters were quick to turn the cancer diagnosis into yet another conspiracy theory. 'Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden's recent medical diagnosis,' he wrote in a message on his Truth Social platform Sunday. 'We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.'
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Biden's sad prostate cancer diagnosis: Unanswered questions and MAGA attacks
Put aside politics for a moment, which I know is basically impossible in this supercharged environment. There is no way not to feel sympathy for Joe Biden as a human being after his prostate cancer diagnosis was made public on Sunday. He has a serious, life-threatening disease. I have plenty of medical questions about why Biden and his doctors waited so long to treat this particularly "aggressive" form of cancer until it spread to his bones. This is inexplicable to me. Now the Stage 4 cancer can't be cured, though it could possibly be contained. Was this part of the coverup of Biden's dramatic decline in mental acuity, as documented in the new book "Original Sin"? How would voters have reacted if they had known that not only was Biden too old and feeble to run for a second term, but also had cancer? Biden Battling 'Most Aggressive Type' Of Prostate Cancer With Bone Metastasis, Medical Expert Says But on a personal level, Biden's life has been marked by tragedy, from the car accident that killed his first wife and daughter to the brain cancer that claimed his son Beau – which is why he announced a "Cancer Moonshot" as president. Read On The Fox News App Look, I've known Joe Biden for 40 years, and whatever you think of his politics, he's a likable guy. I covered him as Senate Judiciary chairman. As vice president, he once sent my then-8-year-old daughter a handwritten note after she wrote a poem about them sharing the same birthday. He used to love talking to reporters. He would throw parties for the press and run around with a super soaker, spraying little kids. That was then. But by 2023, he had no business running for president again, not when aides were debating whether he'd need a wheelchair in a second term, according to the Jake Tapper-Alex Thompson book. Many Democrats are angry that he's reemerged in a rehab tour, wishing the 82-year-old man would just get off the stage. The former president put out a photo with his wife yesterday, saying: "Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places." Dr. Zeke Emanuel said on "Morning Joe" yesterday that the cancer has "been around for a very long time in President Biden – years… It is a little surprising to many of us oncologists that he wasn't diagnosed earlier… He probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021." But none of this matters to the far-right types, many of them based in Florida. Political World Reacts To Former President Biden's 'Aggressive' Cancer Diagnosis: 'Incredibly Difficult' Conservative influencer Roger O'Handley, writing under the name DC Draino ("America First"), wrote a screed that was retweeted or liked 10,000 times: "Some people seem to forget that he is a career criminal who almost destroyed America." According to Mediaite, another far-right commentator, Brenden Dilley (Warlord Dilley, "media personality"), says: "In order to believe the Biden cancer diagnosis, you have to first believe that Biden and his family would willfully tell you the truth about anything. In order for that to happen, you have to be f---ing retarded." His solution: "Stage 5 prostate cancer." In other words, death. Presidential adviser Laura Loomer called this "a PR strategy to shame the Democrats who are coming out with a book about the cover up of Biden's health crisis." Breanna Morello, a self-described "independent journalist": "They want all the Monday morning shows talking about it because Jake Tapper has a book to sell. It's a PR move." What these and other posts have in common is the lack of even a milligram of compassion for Joe Biden as a human being. Biden is evil, everything he does is evil, and if he dies, good riddance. The Great Biden Coverup: Aides Debated Whether To Put The President In A Wheelchair I find this inexplicably sad – win-at-all-costs politics is so all-consuming that human life is meaningless. Even President Trump dropped his usual attacks on his onetime opponent: "Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden's recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family and we wish Joe a fast and speedy recovery." See, that wasn't so hard. Elon Musk, who's faded from the news, shared a post from Clint Russell, who tweets as Liberty Lockdown ("a podcast for those who demand freedom"):: "So the plan was to run Biden, lie about his cancer and dementia, get him back in the WH, and then have him immediately step aside so Kamala's reign of terror could begin. "All while trying to jail or kill DJT. Just making sure we're all on the same page, here. These people are evil." Medical Expert 'Absolutely Shocked' By Timing Of Biden's Prostate Cancer Diagnosis Musk responded with a "bullseye" emoji in a dart board. JD Vance, for his part, sought a middle ground: "Look, I mean, first of all, of course, we wish the best for the former president's health. But hopefully he makes the right recovery. Look, I will say, whether the right time to have this conversation is now or at some point in the future. We really do need to be honest about whether the former president was capable of doing the job." Taylor Lorenz, who worked for the New York Times and Washington Post before going independent, was joyful about Biden's news: "Hopefully he rots in hell and rests in piss." I have defended her at times, but this is beyond appalling. Lorenz has disgraced herself. Then again, she cheered when UnitedHealtcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered on the street, and refused to criticize the alleged shooter. What about his family? Too bad. Just zero regard for human life. Subscribe To Howie's Media Buzzmeter Podcast, A Riff On The Day's Hottest Stories Now is it likely that some on the left will celebrate once Trump passes, which I don't see happening until after he's long out of office? Sure. This disease goes both ways. But that doesn't make it right. It was Bill Clinton, during his impeachment over Monica Lewinsky, who accused his opponents of "the politics of personal destruction." And that's been used against the presidents who followed him. It's a sickness that says human beings don't count, only winning at all costs. Footnote: The Biden announcement prompted some equally sad news from Scott Adams, the brilliant "Dilbert" creator and conservative, pro-Trump voice who hosts a morning coffee for subscribers: "Well, I've decided today's the day I'm going to take the opportunity — since a lot of you are here — to make an announcement of my own. Some of you have already guessed, so it won't surprise you at all, but I have the same cancer Joe Biden has. So I also have prostate cancer that has also spread to my bones. I've had it longer than he's had — well longer than he's admitted having it. "My life expectancy is… maybe the summer. I expect to be checking out from this domain sometime this summer." What a article source: Biden's sad prostate cancer diagnosis: Unanswered questions and MAGA attacks
