Joe Biden, who during his second term as vice president headed up the federal government’s Cancer Moonshot program, now plans to launch a nonprofit organization dedicated to ironing out the nation’s cancer-related issues, including high drug prices.
“I’m going to begin a national conversation and get Congress and advocacy groups in to make sure these treatments are accessible for everyone, including these vulnerable underserved populations, and that we have a more rational way of paying for them while promoting innovation,” Biden said, according to a report in the Washington Post.
Like the Moonshot, Biden’s organization will also focus on promoting collaboration between cancer researchers, getting more patients into clinical trials, boosting the level of cancer treatment in community settings and reducing differences in diagnosis and treatment between racial groups, the Post wrote. Cancer has been a central issue for Biden, in part because he lost his son, Beau, to brain cancer in May 2015.
