The U.S. government's Cancer Moonshot initiative is calling for continued development of advanced imaging technologies as part of its newly released recommendations for cancer research.
The initiative's blue-ribbon panel detailed its cancer research recommendations in a report on September 7 to the National Cancer Advisory Board. The panel advocated for the development and refinement of new cancer technologies that show promise, such as advanced imaging technologies to study cancers at extremely high resolution and implantable microdosing devices that deliver drugs directly into a tumor. Other recommendations included the following:
- Establish a network for direct patient involvement
- Create a clinical trials network devoted exclusively to immunotherapy
- Develop ways to overcome resistance to therapy
- Build a national cancer data ecosystem
- Intensify research on the major drivers of childhood cancers
- Minimize cancer treatment's debilitating side effects
- Expand the use of proven prevention and early detection strategies
- Mine past patient data to predict future patient outcomes
- Develop a 3D cancer atlas
Launched by President Barack Obama in January, the Cancer Moonshot initiative seeks to make a decade's worth of progress in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment in just five years.
"When implemented, the blue-ribbon panel recommendations will advance critical areas of research to prevent and treat cancer, and to meet the goals of the Cancer Moonshot and the hopes of cancer patients and their loved ones," the panel concluded in a statement.
