Biden Announces Next Steps in ‘Cancer Moonshot’ Initiative
Summary from the AllSides News Team
President Joe Biden touted prior advancements and announced new steps in his “Cancer Moonshot” initiative during a visit to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, Massachusetts.
Biden announced multiple new actions, including naming Dr. Renee Wegrzyn as the first director of the newly-created Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) and signing an executive order to ensure new biotechnologies would be manufactured in the U.S. He also noted several recent developments, like the creation of the Cancer Moonshot Scholars program and recent White House guidelines making all federally funded scientific research openly accessible upon publication.
Biden framed the fight against cancer as politically unifying; a White House fact sheet said cancer “not only afflicts Democrats and Republicans, but all Americans.” Biden's support for the initiative began during the Obama administration and continued after he left office; in 2017, he said the fight against cancer was “the only bipartisan thing left in America.”
Coverage was mostly balanced but less common in right-rated outlets. While both Fox News (Right bias) and The New York Times (Lean Left bias) did not appear to promptly cover the speech, The Washington Times (Lean Right bias) was the only right-rated outlet AllSides found that published original coverage of Biden's remarks by Monday evening.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
Biden pushes efforts to end cancer on 60th anniversary of JFK's 'moonshot' speech
On the 60th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's famous moonshot speech, President Joe Biden on Monday is set out to lay out his new plan for a new "American Moonshot," an effort aimed at eradicating cancer "as we know it."
"This is a, all the way back '62, the moonshot was announced, we're gonna have a moonshot for cancer, for real. We're gonna cure cancer over time. I'm gonna lay out how we're gonna do that," Biden said Monday morning as he departed Washington for Boston, Massachusetts.
From the Right
Biden names biotech pro as director of new health research agency in a cancer moonshot speech
President Biden on Monday will appoint Dr. Renee Wegrzyn, an experienced biotechnology professional, to lead an agency created in March to “push the limits” of medical health research and innovation.
Mr. Biden will detail Dr. Wegrzyn’s role as the inaugural director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, in a speech about his cancer moonshot initiative from Boston. The agency’s portfolio and budget will be focused in part on building programs and technologies that detect, prevent and treat diseases like cancer.
“Cancer not only afflicts Democrats and Republicans, but...
From the Center
Biden appoints former government scientist as first leader of ARPA-H
President Joe Biden on Monday appointed longtime biologist and former government scientist Renee Wegrzyn as the first director of the nascent Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.
Biden’s announcement comes as ARPA-H advocates debate where the multibillion-dollar agency should be headquartered and which elusive disease areas should be prioritized. The president officially launched the agency in March with $1 billion in initial funding allotted by Congress, but the search for its inaugural director has taken months.
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