Ending Cancer

President Joe Biden, whose son Beau died of a brain tumor, promised to "end cancer as we know it." To better understand how that could happen, USA TODAY spoke with Ned Sharpless, director of the National Cancer Institute, which will help lead the effort.

Sharpless talked about the current "golden age" of cancer research, in which investments from decades ago are finally paying off for patients, as well as the role the NCI can play in making even more progress, despite the challenges that remain.

Question: What does the president mean by "ending cancer as we know it"? Is that really possible?

Answer: Notice what the president didn't say. The president didn't say eradicate all cancer. It's not likely to occur because of the fundamental links in biology between cancer and aging. It would be hard with the present technology and understanding of biology to end cancer deaths entirely.

What I believe the president meant by that is changing cancer from what it is, what we know today, to more of a disease where the age-adjusted mortality is much lower and where cancer death is largely occurring in the old and frail. So the idea is reduction of mortality and incidence in otherwise healthy individuals.

Question: What about extremely lethal cancers such as pancreatic cancer, or the glioblastoma that killed Beau Biden? Is it going to be feasible anytime soon to make progress against these?

Answer: That’s going to require new thinking and new ideas. The hard thing to predict is when that’s going to happen. In 2000, I would not have said we’re about to make huge progress in melanoma. It did not look particularly opportune back then, but lo and behold the world changed very quickly.  TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE...