Operation Warp Speed has changed the landscape of drug approvals forever. This was a federal effort to accelerate the development of the COVID-19 vaccine created within President Trump
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Because I work in clinical development and understand how regulators work, I was initially skeptical about Operation Warp Speed. The ambitious goals, plans and speed with which these companies tried to develop, manufacture and deliver new vaccines seemed impossible. But their success proved the model. Operation Warp Speed has shown that collaboration, transparency and ample funding are game changers in creating scientific progress.
Now, the same can happen for cancer treatment. And I’ve never had a president more committed to making history than cancer Joe Biden
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After the death of his son Beau de glioblastoma in 2015, Biden became the country’s biggest cancer lawyer. In 2016, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he said he wanted to “end cancer as we know it.” He spent his last year as president Barack Obama
Barack Hussein ObamaHow Democrats Can Challenge Chances in 2022 Biden is thinking of building that wall – and this is a good thing at the White House, surpass the clock to beat GOP attacks MOREHe chaired the White House Cancer Moonshot program, which aimed to fight cancer by funding bold research. The program’s mission to accelerate discoveries and expand the number of treatments available to patients has made immunotherapy possible, enhanced disease prevention strategies, and enabled cancer to be detected earlier in millions of American patients. Biden often mentioned that doubling the pace of progress toward a cure for cancer, achieving what would otherwise take 10 years in five years. And as a presidential candidate, he said, “I promise you that if I am elected president, you will see the most important thing that changes America: we will cure cancer.”
Now he can help turn the dream into reality. Biden is probably the most scientifically and results-oriented president who has ever held office. With his party in power in the House and Senate, Biden could put much more fuel into the rocket for cancer research. It is time for his legacy to take the next step and launch a “cancer discovery operation” based on the teachings of Operation Warp Speed.
We are on the verge of the exponential transformation of cancer into a disease of the past, and Biden has the opportunity to change the future of humanity by making cancer history. Here’s how to do it:
1) Launch a Warp Speed operation for cancer
In the fight against COVID-19, regulators have reduced age limits and modernized the way regulatory agencies review drug approvals. Thus enabling pharmaceutical companies, National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration to cooperate in unprecedented ways.
The government has stimulated involvement in this vital public-private partnership by providing billions of dollars for vaccine research, manufacturing and distribution. It will be essential to use this regulatory model to end cancer, mainly because cancer treatments are much harder to find than a simple vaccine. Cancer is complex. It changes and fools the body’s immune system.
2) It finances more significant investments in research
In the United States, new cancers are diagnosed every 30 seconds. Every year, more than 1.2 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer, in addition to the 20 million who are already fighting for their lives. The Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed has spent more than $ 12.4 billion on vaccine research and development. This partnership between the Departments of Health and Human Services and Defense was successful due to funding.
The selection of candidates for drugs that use different mechanisms to stimulate clinical activity against cancer, using models of artificial intelligence, machine learning, epigenetics and proteomics requires massive funding. Drug manufacturers cannot do this independently, and academic institutions rely heavily on poorly compensated postdoctoral researchers and philanthropic grants. Conducting preclinical studies, moving results to clinical trials, collecting safety data, and analyzing efficacy requires much more than voluntary participants and goodwill.
New technologies have the potential to unlock discoveries, but they are expensive and large-scale studies are expensive. That’s why Biden should create a “cancer detection operation” and dedicate $ 20 billion to accelerate the development of new cancer treatments. It can have a historical and seismic impact in the definitive elimination of cancer.
3) Push Americans to be screened for cancer
Because of the coronavirus, people stayed home, postponing their medical appointments and giving up proper care. The new cancer screening guidelines recommend that the public detect cancer earlier, but the pandemic disruptions have prevented the population from attending the doctor’s appointments for the last year.
Postponing medical treatment is not a good idea. The damage caused by last year’s viral outbreaks on medical research is immeasurable – clinical trials have affected enrollment, patients have had surgery and delayed biopsies, and unfortunately many patients have delayed treatment.
The National Cancer Institute has estimated 1.8 million new cases of cancer by 2020 and more than 600,000 cancer deaths in the United States alone. Screening tests people to find cancer cells before it becomes an uncontrollable problem. When cancer is diagnosed early, people often do not experience symptoms, but many are afraid to return to medical care because of coronavirus.
Finding early-stage cancers before the onset of symptoms can help reduce the chances of dying from these cancers. Cancers diagnosed in earlier stages are usually easier to treat and sometimes a cure is possible. Substantial increases in the number of preventable cancer deaths in America are expected as a result of diagnostic delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Urgent policy interventions are needed, in particular to manage the backlog of routine diagnostic services. Americans need to feel safe returning to their medical care, to be screened for cancer treatment. Biden can help with that.
Beyond my professional experience, cancer is personal to me: I lost my grandfather to Glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain tumor. When I was 12, my six-year-old cousin fell ill with a rare childhood lymphoma. When I was a teenager, my mother fought and survived uterine cancer. During the pandemic, I diagnosed my father with a rare immune system cancer for which we do not yet have a cure. That is why it is so important for me and why I have dedicated my career to researching better ways to treat this disease.
There can hardly be a nobler mission than the end of cancer, and Biden has a chance to lead this effort. Launching a new Warp Speed operation to develop findings for cancer patients could save millions of lives.
Dr. Leo Nissola is a physician and scientist in immunotherapy, focused on fighting advanced cancer with the immune system at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Follow him on Twitter @LeoNissolaMD and @DoctorLeo on Instagram.