Some quick updates on stories I have been following:
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CANCER MOONSHOT: President Obama and Vice President Biden have provided more details, including a possible $1 billion in funding, on the administration’s announced “moonshot” against cancer. Obama, for emotional reasons, tapped Biden to lead the cancer-fighting initiative briefly mentioned in the State of the Union. Biden’s oldest son, Beau, died recently of cancer. It’s a good thing the vice president has deep experience in politics: Even in his initial forays in the “moonshot’s” fight against the disease, Biden has encountered the bitter, pitched political battles that are going on among researchers. With some forms of cancer treatable to make the disease a chronic condition rather than a killer, great attention has turned to therapies for other still-lethal forms. Researchers are zeroing in on big data and personalized-, genetic-, or immune-based therapies. That makes disease and patient data exceedingly valuable. Researchers are scrapping over their control.