Joe Biden Announces 'Moonshot Taskforce' For Proposed $1 Billion Cancer Funding

At the Cancer Moonshot Summit, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announced a plethora of partnerships between government, industry, and academia to support the proposed $1 billion funding to "speed up the national fight against the disease," The Wall Street Journal reported.

The ventures included over 20 drug and biotechnology companies and the National Cancer Institute. The partnerships are aimed to expedite researcher access to investigational and approved drugs. There is some concern though whether the research money is tied to FDA regulatory provisions. Some groups see the funds going towards lowering the agency's safety standards.

The funding has its own moonshot task force. The task force said cancer patients under the program will be vetted faster than other patents applications. The FDA also started a new division the Oncology Center of Excellence. The center's director will be Dr. Richard Pazdur, the chief of the FDA's office of oncology drug review.