US Vice President Joe Biden is eyeing private money to help support his cancer moonshot initiative, Stat News reports.
While the Obama administration is seeking some $755 million in funding for the project, Congressional Republicans have said they won't simply hand the funds over. Further, Biden's tenure there is winding down. To supplement that funding, Biden is drawing inspiration from the new immunotherapy institute at Johns Hopkins University, Stat News says.
This $125 million Bloomberg–Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy is supported by two $50 million philanthropic donations, one from Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, and another from Sidney Kimmel, the founder of Jones Apparel Group, as well as through a total of $25 million in donations from a dozen others.
The center will be led by Drew Pardoll and is to focus on melanoma, colon, pancreatic, urologic, lung, breast, and ovarian cancers, according to the university.
"I don't want to leave the impression the federal government is the only answer. It's not," Biden said in speech after the institute's announcement, according to Stat News. "This is a great example of one of the core elements of the cancer moonshot task force: facilitating cooperation between government, the private sector, academia, and philanthropy."