Vice President Joe Biden was recently appointed by President Barack Obama to launch a "moonshot" search for a cancer cure after the former lost his son to brain cancer last year. This week Biden met with worldwide cancer experts at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. The Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently announced that the public is close to a turning point over four decades after President Richard Nixon declared war on the deadly disease.
NIH chief Francis Collins shared the news during a CNBC interview. He admitted that the public might be doubtful about the "inflection point" because many people have died of cancer before a cure has been discovered, according to CNBC.
However, scientists now understand what happens inside the cancer cell. This could help to find a cure.
The NIH official elucidated that cancer is not one disease. It is actually hundreds of different diseases.
NIH is the world's biggest biomedical research agency. It is located in Bethesda, Maryland.
Before becoming the NIH's director Collins ran the Human Genome Project. It made many key findings about genetic connections to various diseases.
Cancer is a disease that takes place in the genome and results in DNA errors. Researchers can now learn which genes are involved in a caner tumor.
Doctors can then use a strategy to stop the tumor's growth or kill the cancer cells. It is possible through new technology.
Researchers are also learning more about how to trigger the human immune system better. Collins explained that humans' immune systems are probably always fighting off little cancers, but their cells can hide from the system.
Cancer kills the second most people in the United States, and will cause the death of about 596,000 Americans this year, according to CNN. During the next decade it will likely become the top cause of death.
Dr. Otis Brawley is Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society. He believes society can do much more to prevent people from suffering and dying from the deadly disease.
Brawley argued that Obama's "moonshot" term in the fight against cancer was a good one. The reason is that groups should work together in an organized way.