Research/key-initiatives/moonshot-cancer-initiative/implementation

Cancer Moonshot℠ Research Initiatives

Following receipt of the Blue Ribbon Panel (BRP) report, and the authorization of the 21st Century Cures Act, the NCI established implementation teams that align with each of the BRP recommendations. The teams have identified opportunities and developed initiatives for funding that directly address each of the recommendations. These mark the beginning of a Cancer Moonshot portfolio that will continue to be expanded in future years.

The following initiatives have been established to address the goals of the recommendations:

Establish a Network for Direct Patient Engagement

Engage patients to contribute their comprehensive tumor profile data to expand knowledge about what therapies work, in whom, and in which types of cancer.

Create an Adult Immunotherapy Network

Establish a cancer immunotherapy research network to develop immune-based approaches for the treatment and prevention of cancer in adult patients.

Create a Pediatric Immunotherapy Discovery and Development Network (PI-DDN)

Generate a cancer immunotherapy research network to overcome challenges in the development of immunotherapies for childhood cancers.

Develop Ways to Overcome Cancer’s Resistance to Therapy

Identify therapeutic targets to overcome drug resistance through studies that determine the mechanisms that lead cancer cells to become resistant to previously effective treatments.

Build a National Cancer Data Ecosystem

Create a national ecosystem for sharing and analyzing cancer data so that researchers, clinicians and patients will be able to contribute data, which will facilitate efficient data analysis.

Intensify Research on the Major Drivers of Childhood Cancers

Improve our understanding of fusion oncoproteins in pediatric cancer and use new preclinical models to develop inhibitors that target them.

Minimize Cancer Treatment’s Debilitating Side Effects

Accelerate the development of guidelines for routine monitoring and management of patient reported symptoms to minimize debilitating side effects of cancer and its treatment.

Prevention and Early Detection of Hereditary Cancers

Improve current methods and develop new strategies for the prevention and early detection of cancer in individuals at high risk for cancer.

Expand Use of Proven Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Strategies

Reduce cancer risk and cancer health disparities through the development, implementation, and broad adoption of proven cancer prevention and detection approaches.

Analyze Patient Data and Biospecimens from Past Clinical Trials to Predict Future Patient Outcomes

Predict response to standard treatments through retrospective analysis of patient specimens.

Generation of Human Tumor Atlases

Create dynamic 3D maps of human tumor evolution to document the genetic lesions and cellular interactions of each tumor as it evolves from a precancerous lesion to advanced cancer.

Develop New Cancer Technologies

Develop new enabling cancer technologies to characterize tumors and test therapies.

Partnership for Accelerating Cancer Therapies (PACT)

PACT is a five-year, public-private research collaboration launched by NIH and 11 pharmaceutical companies. As part of this effort, NCI recently awarded grants to support four Cancer Immune Monitoring and Analysis Centers (CIMACs) and a Cancer Immunologic Data Commons (CIDC).