Vice President Joe Biden plans to continue his cancer work after leaving the White House, the Washington Post reports.
Biden is currently heading up the cancer moonshot initiative announced by President Barack Obama in his last State of the Union Address in 2016 that aims to increase cancer research funding and break down barriers between different cancer research silos. The recently passed 21st Century Cures Act includes some $1.8 billion for the effort.
Biden tells the Post that that his new nonprofit organization will tackle many of the same data sharing and clinical trial participation issues as the moonshot effort, but also others like drug pricing.
"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 tells the Post. Biden's son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015.
He adds that the nonprofit, tentatively being called the Biden Cancer Initiative, will be located in either Washington, DC, or Wilmington, Del., and won't be associated with any cancer center.