At UVM Roundtable, Biden Calls for Renewed Focus on Cancer Research

POSTED BY PAUL HEINTZ ON FRI, OCT 21, 2016 AT 2:21 PM

Excerpt:

Nine months after President Barack Obama asked him to lead a national effort to expedite cancer research, Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Burlington Friday to outline the recommendations of his “Cancer Moonshot” initiative.

During a morning roundtable at the University of Vermont, Biden said that researchers had in recent years reached “a real inflection point” in the fight against the disease. But he argued that the medical community continued to face structural deficiencies that hobble communication and collaboration.

“We are so far behind the curve on some of the simple things that can make a gigantic difference,” the vice president said. “This is a worldwide problem, and we need an organizational structure that will take us to a different place.”

Specifically, Biden said, those fighting cancer struggle to access information about their malady, find clinical trials or even share their medical records with far-flung hospitals. Moreover, he argued, the pharmaceutical industry charges too much for life-saving drugs.

“Here’s the deal: We have to have a major conversation with the drug companies about pricing,” he said, adding that there was “no justification” for drug regimens that cost into the six-figures.

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