"It is of critical national importance that we accelerate progress toward prevention, treatment and a cure — to double the rate of progress in the fight against cancer — and put ourselves on a path to achieve in just 5 years research and treatment gains that otherwise might take a decade or more," Obama said.
The White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force will bring together more than a dozen US federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health and the Department of Commerce, to accelerate research and find more advanced treatments that will lead to a cure, according to the announcement.
Earlier in January, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden unveiled the Moonshot to Cure Cancer initiative in an effort to accelerate finding a cure. Biden is said to have been inspired to launch the initiative after his son, Beau Biden, died from brain cancer last year.
At present, cancer is one of the leading causes of death around the world and only about 5 percent of cancer patients are able to undergo clinical trials, according to the White House.
