Cancer Moonshot outlines research goals

In a report issued Wednesday, the panel convened to advise the Cancer Moonshot Initiative recommended research opportunities to achieve the project's goal. Introduced by President Obama in January, the Cancer Moonshot is intended to make 10 years of progress in cancer treatment and prevention within five years.

The panel recommended "a federated, large-scale patient participation network" to perform genomic and immunologic tumor profiling and assess tumor microenvironments. Consenting patients would be notified of a match to a new therapy based on a tumor's molecular profile, potentially making the patient eligible for a clinical trial. The network would also allow data sharing among study sites and would link existing tumor sequencing programs, which the panel said could increase patient access to clinical trials by expanding the number of study sites. ...