April 2012

Campaign 2008: Obama-Biden Cancer Plan

With the 2008 United States Presidential campaign behind us, it is important for the cancer community to be informed of our President- Elect’s plans to combat cancer. We have compiled some of the highlights from the “Obama-Biden Cancer Agenda”.

Cancer Research Funding

Cancer funding has stagnated in recent federal budgets¹. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are committed to reversing this trend. The Obama-Biden plan will

● Double federal funding for cancer research within five years
● Work with Congress to increase funding for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency that plays a critical role in advances in cancer research
● Provide additional funding for research on rare cancers and those without effective treatment options

Access to Clinical Trials

Today, less than five percent of patients with cancer participate in clinicaltrials², Barack Obama and Joe Biden will seek to increase participation in clinical trials to ten percent of adult cancer patients by:

● Requiring coverage of patient clinical trial costs in the new plans offered through the National Health Insurance Exchange (a proposed voluntary national pool, comprised of a range of private plans and a new public plan)
● Increasing NCI reimbursement for patient participation in clinical research requesting the NCI Director to identify regulatory barriers that prevent the timely implementation and completion of successful clinical trial

Federal Coordination of Cancer Programs

The Obama-Biden plan will maximize federal cancer funding by improving coordination both within the government and across government/private/nonprofit partnerships for research, treatment and awareness efforts. The plan calls for agency officials, academic researchers, cancer survivors and advocates for people with cancer, and state public health officials, to comprehensively examine the various cancer- related efforts of federal agencies, and provide recommendations to eliminate barriers to effective coordination across federal agencies and between the federal government and other stakeholders.

Cancer Survivor Support

The plan will:

● Direct the Centers for Disease Control to develop and carry out an epidemiologic study on cancer survivors to understand their long-term health needs.
● Foster efforts to expand psychosocial supports to cancer survivors, including directing the CDC to identify and replicate successful support group programs for cancer survivors.
● Provide the CDC $50 million in new funding to determine the most effective approaches that assist not only navigation of cancer patients through diagnosis and treatment processes, but also provide easy-to-understand information on the necessary follow-up steps to ensure continued lifelong health.