Cancer Research in the US is World Class Because of its Broad Base of Funding − With the Government Pulling Out, Its Future is Uncertain

[Hurricanelover]

Cancer Research in the US is World Class Because of its Broad Base of Funding − With the Government Pulling Out, Its Future is Uncertain
[/size] by Jeffrey MacKeigan, Ph.D.
April 28, 2025

Extract:

(The Conversation) While private foundations are vital partners for cancer research, they cannot replace the scale and consistency of federal funding. Total U.S. philanthropic funding for cancer research is estimated at a few billion dollars per year, spread across hundreds of organizations. In comparison, the federal government has typically contributed roughly five to eight times more than philanthropy to cancer research each year.
Industry innovation − and its priorities

Private-sector innovation is essential for translating discoveries into treatments. In 2021, nearly 80% of the roughly $57 billion the U.S. spent on cancer drugs came from pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Many of the treatments used in oncology today, including immunotherapies and targeted therapies, emerged from collaborations between academic labs and industry partners.

But commercial priorities don’t always align with public health needs. Companies naturally focus on areas with strong financial returns: common cancers, projects that qualify for fast-track regulatory approval, and high-priced drugs. Rare cancers, pediatric cancers and basic science often receive less attention.

Industry is also saddled with uncertainty. Rising R&D costs, tough regulatory requirements and investor wariness have created a challenging environment to bring new drugs to market. Several biotech startups have folded or downsized in the past year, leaving promising new drugs stranded in limbo in the lab before they can reach clinical trials.

Without federal or philanthropic entities to pick up the slack, these discoveries may never reach the patients who need them.

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/cancer-research-in-the-us-is-world-class-because-of-its-broad-base-of-funding-with-the-government-pulling-out-its-future-is-uncertain-254536

Cancer is close to the biggest killer of Americans yearly. Ending this disease would save hundreds of billions yearly. It is worth every penny and would greatly enhance quality of life not having to deal with it. It is the greatest enemy this society faces.

 

[Dekster]

Cancer Research in the US is World Class Because of its Broad Base of Funding − With the Government Pulling Out, Its Future is Uncertain
[/size] by Jeffrey MacKeigan, Ph.D.
April 28, 2025

Extract:

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/cancer-research-in-the-us-is-world-class-because-of-its-broad-base-of-funding-with-the-government-pulling-out-its-future-is-uncertain-254536

Cancer is close to the biggest killer of Americans yearly. Ending this disease would save hundreds of billions yearly. It is worth every penny and would greatly enhance quality of life not having to deal with it. It is the greatest enemy this society faces.

Cancer is never going away. It has too many causes and all cancers are not the same.

 

[initforme]

Cancer is never going away. It has too many causes and all cancers are not the same.

So let's just accept that we have a massive cancer crisis but heck it's ok cuz we live here. Ummmm, not even close to acceptable. Something is very wrong with america in looking at its cancer rates. Very wrong.

 

[Mashmont]

Cancer Research in the US is World Class Because of its Broad Base of Funding − With the Government Pulling Out, Its Future is Uncertain
[/size] by Jeffrey MacKeigan, Ph.D.
April 28, 2025

Extract:

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/cancer-research-in-the-us-is-world-class-because-of-its-broad-base-of-funding-with-the-government-pulling-out-its-future-is-uncertain-254536

Cancer is close to the biggest killer of Americans yearly. Ending this disease would save hundreds of billions yearly. It is worth every penny and would greatly enhance quality of life not having to deal with it. It is the greatest enemy this society faces.

This reminds me of cutting SNAP. The left will scream about "taking food away from poor children" without mentioning SNAP pays for $10 billion in sugary drinks.

What I would ask with this program is "What specific things are being cut? Is there waste that shouldn't be there? Undoubtedly there is, with such a large budget. The NIH is the largest funder of "cancer research". But they've also been heavily involved in leftwing politics. Why should taxpayers fund that?

 

[initforme]

So cut the waste out, and put all the money back into it. Then again it's only people getting g sick right? Should take 10 minutes to find any fraud.

 

[1srelluc]

So let's just accept that we have a massive cancer crisis but heck it's ok cuz we live here. Ummmm, not even close to acceptable. Something is very wrong with america in looking at its cancer rates. Very wrong.

So, it's suddenly a "crisis" because FJB has ass cancer?

Between what the .gov allows in our food, bomb tests no end in the 40s-50s spewing radiation across the country, the massive pollution those now in their 60s had to live with, and along with the 101 other things we now find cancer inducing. Just what do you expect?

Hell, it's a damn wonder everyone above 60 doesn't have ass cancer.

How about this, just keep the .gov away from us as much as possible.....I'd rather risk cancer than to have the .gov keep "helping" us.

 

[Dekster]

So let's just accept that we have a massive cancer crisis but heck it's ok cuz we live here. Ummmm, not even close to acceptable. Something is very wrong with america in looking at its cancer rates. Very wrong.

You can accept whatever you want and deny whatever you want. Cancer, however, really isn't generally an infection that can be eradicated. Every cell in your body could turn to a cancer cell should it mutate.

 

[initforme]

You can accept whatever you want and deny whatever you want. Cancer, however, really isn't generally an infection that can be eradicated. Every cell in your body could turn to a cancer cell should it mutate.

Something must trigger that mutation probably some chemicals from industry.

 

[Dekster]

Something must trigger that mutation probably some chemicals from industry.

could also be genetics or smoking them coffin nails. Regardless, the illustrates why the US has the most expensive healthcare system in the world. We carry the heaviest load on research. If the US pulls back, other countries can step up or not. Up to them. Whatever Trump takes away will be put back in a few years anyway. It isn't like his presidency is forever.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

Cancer Research in the US is World Class Because of its Broad Base of Funding − With the Government Pulling Out, Its Future is Uncertain
[/size] by Jeffrey MacKeigan, Ph.D.
April 28, 2025

Extract:

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/cancer-research-in-the-us-is-world-class-because-of-its-broad-base-of-funding-with-the-government-pulling-out-its-future-is-uncertain-254536

Cancer is close to the biggest killer of Americans yearly. Ending this disease would save hundreds of billions yearly. It is worth every penny and would greatly enhance quality of life not having to deal with it. It is the greatest enemy this society faces.

If We Don't Pay Students, They Will Make Us Pay

High IQs could have cured cancer 50 years ago, but it is unmotivating to sacrifice your youth so that people who think you are a freak and a loser can live past middle age.

 

[scruffy]

Cancer Research in the US is World Class Because of its Broad Base of Funding − With the Government Pulling Out, Its Future is Uncertain
[/size] by Jeffrey MacKeigan, Ph.D.
April 28, 2025

Extract:

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/cancer-research-in-the-us-is-world-class-because-of-its-broad-base-of-funding-with-the-government-pulling-out-its-future-is-uncertain-254536

Cancer is close to the biggest killer of Americans yearly. Ending this disease would save hundreds of billions yearly. It is worth every penny and would greatly enhance quality of life not having to deal with it. It is the greatest enemy this society faces.

The government is not pulling out of cancer research.

I should know, I'm being funded by it.

 

[dudmuck]

This reminds me of cutting SNAP. The left will scream about "taking food away from poor children" without mentioning SNAP pays for $10 billion in sugary drinks.

What I would ask with this program is "What specific things are being cut? Is there waste that shouldn't be there? Undoubtedly there is, with such a large budget. The NIH is the largest funder of "cancer research". But they've also been heavily involved in leftwing politics. Why should taxpayers fund that?

 

[scruffy]

If We Don't Pay Students, They Will Make Us Pay

High IQs could have cured cancer 50 years ago,

Um... no.

but it is unmotivating to sacrifice your youth so that people who think you are a freak and a loser can live past middle age.

There are over 8000 kinds of cancer. They're all different. Only 1/4 of them are malignant, except if the patient is immune compromised, in which case the number becomes 1/3.

I work on something called PML, which is not a cancer, but it sometimes becomes a cancer in immune compromised individuals. PML is usually caused by a virus (called JC virus), which normally doesn't cross the blood brain barrier - however many forms of biologics will weaken the barrier to the point where it can.

The point being, cancer is not simple, and it's not just one thing. It's a name given to a class of pathologies we don't understand. I have a friend in Philly who got squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus from breathing chemicals. Because he was taking a biologic, the cancer spread to his brain, then migrated to his spinal cord. These are completely different kinds of cells, the only thing they have in common is they're both epithelial. No one understands the migration process. We will, in 20 years or so, once we understand more about transcription factors.

Simply throwing money at the problem isn't going to help. AI and data science will help, if we get more interdisciplinary knowledge. It's already helped in the area of materials, but physics and computer science are closely related. Medicine is wetware, it's a whole different thing.

The profit in medical technology comes mostly from insurance payments. The only people who need it are already sick. Government tries to fill in the gaps where insurance won't reach, like basic research. pHarma will only cover that space to the extent they think they can profit from it. The best advances co.e from graduate students with new ideas, but they need access to labs and technology. That's the way our system works. Maybe we can find a way to make it work better.

I do work in machine learning and data science that the biologists don't know how to do. They hire me because they don't have the skills in house. If I was working on Wall Street I could be making ten times the money, the doctors only pay me a pittance for my skill set and the work I do. Fortunately, I don't need the money, I do it because I'm interested and because it helps. There are many others like me, but still not enough. It won't help to pay us more, but it'll help to get more of us.

 

[Blaster]

Cancer Research in the US is World Class Because of its Broad Base of Funding − With the Government Pulling Out, Its Future is Uncertain
[/size] by Jeffrey MacKeigan, Ph.D.
April 28, 2025

Extract:

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/cancer-research-in-the-us-is-world-class-because-of-its-broad-base-of-funding-with-the-government-pulling-out-its-future-is-uncertain-254536

Cancer is close to the biggest killer of Americans yearly. Ending this disease would save hundreds of billions yearly. It is worth every penny and would greatly enhance quality of life not having to deal with it. It is the greatest enemy this society faces.

There is no cure yet.

 

[scruffy]

There is no cure yet.

Some few types of cancers can be mostly cured. These include thyroid cancers, testicular cancers, and some breast cancers (and even some prostate cancers). But they have to be caught early, and treated right away. Melanoma is another one. These are mostly the common cancers, the ones a lot of people get.

But things like leukemias are not in that class. Even though a lot of people get them, there's so many kinds that research becomes very difficult. To address these we need to know how to fix transcription in vivo, which we're nowhere near knowing yet. In many cases we know the "how" the cancer works but not the "why" it starts. We can temporarily fix the "how" part but it'll just start all over again in a few months.

A lot of it is biophysics. There have been some tremendous advances in prion replication recently (protein folding and such), and some of these mechanisms are in play in cancers too. If you're interested google "seeded polymerization".