CDC awards $215 million as part of Cancer Moonshot initiative revival

(Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was awarding $215 million in first-year funding as part of reviving the erstwhile Obama administration’s Cancer Moonshot initiative aimed at prevention and control of the disease.

The funding will be given to 86 recipients including various U.S. states as well as indigenous tribes such as Cherokee Nation, Kaw Nation of Oklahoma and Navajo Nation, among others.

It is part of an overall five-year investment plan worth $1.1 billion into three national programs to prevent and control cancer, the CDC said on Wednesday.

“This funding is a critical investment in support of President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative and our efforts to help ensure that everyone in the United States equitably benefits from the tools we have to detect and diagnose cancer,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in the CDC statement.

U.S. President Joe Biden in February announced plans to reduce death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years by speeding research and making more treatments available under the “Cancer Moonshot” initiative.

The initiative, launched in 2016, was led by Biden when he was vice-president.

(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)