With the new Trump administration in the White House, Discover's D-brief blog says that some programs that started under the Obama administration have uncertain futures, though it adds that the Cancer Moonshot initiative might be better poised than others to continue.
The program's funding, through the 21st Century Cures Act, is in place, it says, noting that it passed the Senate 94 to 5, and last June, a panel of cancer researchers, clinicians, and patient advocates came up with a list of research areas that, if pursued, could speed up research, therapeutics, and disease prevention.
But Greg Simon, the former executive president of the initiative, said last month that he was unaware of any meeting between the Trump and Moonshot teams, D-brief adds. Further, it's unclear how an executive order requiring the elimination of two regulations for any one new one would affect the Cures Act.
Still, D-brief adds that former Vice President Joe Biden, who spearheaded the project during the Obama Administration, has said he would continue his efforts, with Simon on his team, through a new nonprofit. In addition, it notes that some of the Moonshot's plans to boost data sharing could still be implemented, as could a proposal to create a database of liquid biopsy results.