Mr. President, we’re closer to curing cancer than you think…
A “National Effort” to cure cancer is already underway in America
Last night, President Obama announced a “new national effort” to cure cancer during his final State of the Union Address. The President’s call is as well intentioned as his support for the Vice President and the Biden family as they continue to grieve.
But make no mistake, a “national effort” to cure cancer is already under way in America. We are going to cure cancer, with or without support from politicians at any level. In fact, genetic scientists and entrepreneurs are already on the precipice of true cures for cancer, as well as many other debilitating human diseases through genetic therapy.
From protein expression and disruption to direct editing of genes the advances made since the mapping of the human genome promise to be transformational. There is no question that cures through gene therapy are within our grasp. Late last year, a child with “incurable” leukemia was cured with a genetic therapy treatment.
Simply put, any implication that the distance left to travel approaches “moonshot” significance overstates the distance left to travel.
The challenge is that cancer isn’t one disease, it’s many.
But to dismiss the awesome potential of gene therapy in the wake of successes like the one mentioned above is to ignore that we are close. Closer, in fact, than was the technology that would take us to the moon when President Kennedy boldly declared we would get there in the spring of 1961. Eight years, two months. That’s what it took to marshal the resources required, for the thinkers of that era to engineer solutions which allowed us to land the original moonshot.
After decades of research, mistakes, and misdirection, we are now poised for a “golden age” of gene therapy. If we need a date against which to mark our progress, fine, let’s call President Obama’s announcement last night that moment in time against which to measure future progress — but the “moonshot” is well underway.
And the clock is ticking. To complete this mission in less time than it took between Kennedy’s call and Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon we have until early 2024. Here are the next three steps we should take to ensure we speed up progress and get there in less time than it took to get to the moon.
1.Build on the increased funding for NIH by immediately directing additional dollars towards gene therapy research, and put gene technology at the center of collaborative efforts to cure cancers and other deadly diseases. From vaccines and lasers to GPS and the Internet, government funded research has led directly to dramatic breakthroughs that have changed our world. Gene therapy has already been “discovered” and had initial success. Given that no two cancers are exactly alike now is the time to double (or triple!) down and turbocharge this research by dramatically increasing government funding for gene therapy research.
2.The Senate should pass the 21st Century Cures Act, which has already been approved by the House and is expected to be signed into law by the President upon final passage. The federal government’s process for approving drug treatments has not kept pace with rapid scientific advances over the past decades. By streamlining the approval process for clinical trials and incentivizing research into additional diseases, scientists and researchers will be further empowered. Far from perfect, this legislation is a necessary next step that can be enacted and implemented quickly.
3.Finally, supporters of patient advocacy groups should urge the organizations they support to devote additional resources to pursuing cures. Millions of people who have had their lives touched by devastating diseases give generously to advocacy groups in hopes that their hard earned dollars will help realize a day when no one else has to face what they did. Progress has been made, but not enough of it. These organizations should be using their significant resources to leverage additional discovery alongside the private sector and government.
The gene therapy industry has already made it off the launch pad. Through a concerted, national effort to better support the innovation, discovery and testing already underway, we can cure cancer faster than the President thinks.
Jeff Galvin is a Co-Founder and CEO of American Gene Technologies, located in Rockville, MD
