Published: Tuesday, May 4, 2021
A cancer patient receiving chemotherapy treatment. Photo credit: kbrookes/Flickr
A cancer patient receiving chemotherapy treatment. kbrookes/Flickr
President Biden pledged last week to "end cancer as we know it," a bold promise focused on boosting funding to the National Institutes of Health for a special Advanced Research Projects Agency-Health.
ARPA-H would be similar to the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, acting as a technology incubator by funding high-potential, high-impact projects that are too early for private-sector investment, but with the "singular purpose to develop breakthroughs to prevent, detect and treat" diseases.
"I can think of no more worthy investment. I know of nothing that is more bipartisan," Biden told Congress last week. "So let's end cancer as we know it. It's within our power. It's within our power to do it."