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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    Joe Biden's "Moon Shot" and "Cancer Politics"

    This month's State of the Union Address was unusually short of sweeping, long-range promises, but President Obama did endorse the ambitious goals of Vice President Biden's "Moon Shot" against cancer. The disease takes hundreds of different forms and varies from person to person. The Vice President says he can't promise a single "cure."

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    By Warren Olney • Jan 21, 2016 • 33m Listen

    This month's State of the Union Address was unusually short of sweeping, long-range promises, but President Obama did endorse the ambitious goals of Vice President Biden's "Moon Shot" against cancer. The disease takes hundreds of different forms and varies from person to person. The Vice President says he can't promise a single "cure." Instead, his "Moon Shot" is aimed at doubling the rate of progress toward prevention and treatment -- by replacing competition with collaboration. When cancer researchers don't share information, he's learned, promising work can be lost in what scientists call the "Valley of Death." With profit-making companies entitled to guard their secrets, we hear how a master politician is coping with "cancer politics."

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Biden's "Moonshot" Cure to Cancer a Call to Action
    1. 1:43UK Inquiry: Putin "Probably" OK'ed Polonium Poisoning
    2. 8:44Joe Biden's "Moon Shot" and "Cancer Politics"You’re reading this
    3. 42:10The Oscars Are Still So White, but Why?
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Jenny Hamel

      KCRW

    • KCRW placeholder

      Andrea Brody

      Senior Producer, KCRW's Life Examined and To the Point podcast

    • KCRW placeholder

      Paul von Zielbauer

      Co-founder of Geezer magazine, former producer for To the Point and Which Way LA?; former reporter for the New York Times

    • KCRW placeholder

      Josh Lederman

      Associated Press

    • KCRW placeholder

      William Nelson

      Johns Hopkins University

    • KCRW placeholder

      Alice Park

      Time Magazine

      NewsNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Biden's "Moonshot" Cure to Cancer a Call to Action
    1. 1:43UK Inquiry: Putin "Probably" OK'ed Polonium Poisoning
    2. 8:44Joe Biden's "Moon Shot" and "Cancer Politics"You’re reading this
    3. 42:10The Oscars Are Still So White, but Why?
    Back to To the Point