Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
White House Pushes For Higher-Precision Cancer Surgery
Axios: Biden Admin Launches Precision Cancer Surgery Effort
The Biden administration on Thursday launched an effort under its new science agency ARPA-H to help surgeons better remove cancerous tumors without damaging nerves, blood vessels and other healthy tissue. It's the first cancer program for the multi-billion-dollar Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health and is paired with the "cancer moonshot" as part of President Biden's "unity agenda" aimed at cutting the cancer death rate in half over 25 years. (Bettelheim, 7/27)
AP: Biden Announces An Advanced Cancer Research Initiative As Part Of His 'Moonshot' Effort
President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday announced the first cancer-focused initiative under its advanced health research agency, aiming to help doctors more easily distinguish between cancerous cells and healthy tissue during surgery and improve outcomes for patients. The administration’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, is launching a Precision Surgical Interventions program, seeking ideas from the public and private sectors to explore how to dramatically improve cancer outcomes in the coming decades by developing better surgical interventions to treat the disease. (Miller, 7/27)
More on cancer research —
USA Today: As Pediatric Cancer Rates Rise And Deaths Fall, Experts Call Attention To Survivors
Although data shows mortality rates for childhood cancers continue to fall, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found diagnoses have been steadily rising since 2003. As the population of kids who beat cancer grows, health experts are calling for more emphasis on survivorship care. (Rodriguez, 7/28)
The New York Times: Flipping A Switch And Making Cancers Self-Destruct
Within every cancer are molecules that spur deadly, uncontrollable growth. What if scientists could hook those molecules to others that make cells self-destruct? Could the very drivers of a cancer’s survival instead activate the program for its destruction? That idea came as an epiphany to Dr. Gerald Crabtree, a developmental biologist at Stanford, some years ago during a walk through the redwoods near his home in the Santa Cruz mountains. (Kolata, 7/26)
CBS News: Could Just A Few Minutes Of Daily Activity Cut Your Risk Of Cancer? New Study Offers Clues
Could just a few minutes of vigorous activity each day reduce your risk of certain cancers? New research is pointing to a potential connection. Published Thursday in the journal JAMA Oncology, the observational study found that doing four to five minutes a day of "vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity," or VILPA for short — such as one- to two-minute bursts of fast walking or stair climbing — is associated with a "substantially lower cancer risk" compared to those who did no such activity. (Moniuszko, 7/27)
Fox News: AI Tech Aims To Detect Breast Cancer By Mimicking Radiologists’ Eye Movements: 'A Critical Friend'
Researchers in the U.K. are training artificial intelligence models to "read" mammogram images by mimicking the gaze of human radiologists, according to Hantao Liu, an associate professor at Cardiff University who is leading the initiative. The goal is for the AI solution to improve the accuracy and efficiency of scans, thus leading to earlier detection of breast cancer and more informed decision-making. (Rudy, 7/28)
