The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has released a National Cancer Plan designed to accelerate scientific progress, maximize the potential of discovery and achieve the goal of the Cancer Moonshot initiative to “end cancer as we know it.”
The comprehensive plan details eight specific goals and sets forth strategies that rely on the resources of the federal government, academia, industry, and nonprofit organizations. The goals encompass the entire cancer continuum from cancer prevention and early detection through improved treatments, greater access to clinical trials, and better overall care delivery. The plan prioritizes eliminating health disparities as well as diversifying the cancer care workforce.
Eight goals of the National Cancer Plan:
1. Prevent Cancer. All people and society adopt proven strategies that reduce the risk of cancer.
2. Detect Cancers Early. Cancers are detected and treated at early stages, enabling more effective treatment and reducing morbidity and mortality.
3. Develop Effective Treatments. Effective treatment, with minimal side effects, is accessible to all people with all cancers, including those with rare cancers, metastatic cancers, and treatment- resistant disease.
4. Eliminate Inequities. Disparities in cancer risk factors, incidence, treatment side effects, and mortality are eliminated through equitable access to prevention, screening, treatment, and survivorship care.
5. Deliver Optimal Care. The health care system delivers to all people evidence-based, patient-centered care that prioritizes prevention, reduces cancer morbidity and mortality, and improves the lives of cancer survivors, including people living with cancer.
6. Engage Every Person. Every person with cancer or at risk for cancer has an opportunity to participate in research or otherwise contribute to the collective knowledge base, and barriers to their participation are eliminated.
7. Maximize Data Utility. Secure sharing of privacy-protected health data is standard practice throughout research, and researchers share and use available data to achieve rapid progress against cancer.
8. Optimize the Workforce. The cancer care and research workforce is diverse, reflects the communities served, and meets the needs of all people with cancer and those at risk for cancer, ensuring they live longer and healthier lives.
The plan drew praise from associations in the oncology community. “This plan represents the exact kind of roadmap the nation needs. Decades of past federal research investment are already paying off with promising new methods of early detection and new treatments. But research alone won’t get us to our goals,” said American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) President Eric P. Winer, M.D., in a statement. “We need a concerted and coordinated effort across the entire cancer community to make sure new discoveries and proven interventions reach our entire population of individuals with cancer and have a chance to benefit everyone.”
The National Cancer Plan emphasizes the need to understand the biology behind pre-cancerous cells to improve cancer prevention, calls for developing new screening tests—especially for those cancers without any current means of testing—and reaffirms the importance of finding new, well-tolerated treatments for every stage from precancerous lesions through metastatic disease. While cancer death rates have declined substantially over the last several decades, not all Americans have benefited from advancements in cancer care. Black Americans, for instance, have the highest death rate and shortest survival of any racial or ethnic group in the country for most cancers. Eliminating these kinds of disparities and ensuring equitable access to cancer prevention, screening, clinical trials, and treatment services, features prominently in the plan. “Getting better care—care that we know is effective—to the people who need it most is an urgent need in this country,” added Winer. “Whether it’s reaching patients in rural areas who need to travel long distances to receive service or reaching people in urban areas who lack access, it’s critical to identify and fix the barriers to care and gaps in treatment as soon as possible.”
Aside from supporting discovery and translational science, ASCO is addressing access challenges through several projects and programs, including a multi-year pilot program to increase access to high-quality cancer care in rural areas, a collaboration with the Association of Community Cancer Centers to increase racial and ethnic diversity in clinical trials, a summer oncology internship program for medical students from underrepresented populations in medicine, and publication of Oncology Medical Home standards with the Community Oncology Alliance to provide oncology practices with a comprehensive care delivery system.
“From foundational biology to transformative scientific discoveries, from public policy to private sector partnerships, it’s going to take a significant, sweeping effort to reduce cancer incidence and deaths and the National Cancer Plan provides clear goals, strategies, and a call to action to achieve that goal,” said Winer. “ASCO stands ready and eager to work with NCI and the entire cancer community to put this plan into action as soon as possible—we have to act now!”
