| | | | |  | | By Erin Schumaker, Daniel Payne, Carmen Paun and Evan Peng | | | | | | | 
Erin talks to White House cancer moonshot coordinator Danielle Carnival. | Rod Lamkey | Innovators at POLITICO’s Cancer Moonshot Mission Update are hopeful that lessons learned during the Covid pandemic about expanding access to care, combined with promising cutting edge technologies, will make President Joe Biden’s goal of cutting the cancer death rate in half achievable. But administration officials and outside experts at the event also said significant challenges remain and that progress toward Biden’s goal will have to improve in order to reach it in the 25-year window the president envisions, Daniel reports. Leaders in cancer innovation said regulatory hurdles to clinical trial diversity, yawning gaps in access to preventive screenings, and inefficiencies in the market for cancer drugs still stand in the way. Here are three takeaways from the event, moderated by Erin and POLITICO’s Katherine Ellen Foley: Exciting innovations are in the pipeline Technology, such as mRNA vaccines, is sparking hope. Ongoing work could result in treatments to fine-tune immune responses. That could not only have an impact in cancer care but also autoimmune diseases and even long Covid, said Renee Wegrzyn, director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. Not all the research targets grab headlines, such as an ARPA-H project to better identify and remove tumors in surgery. Currently, Wegrzyn said, cancer care often involves a series of surgeries because it’s so difficult to remove all the cancerous tissue and the process can damage nerves. The project aims to move toward “one-and-done surgery,” she said. Innovators need each other, and funders To facilitate give-and-take, the Biden administration announced this week a new hub-and-spoke cancer innovation network, including research centers and providers across the country. Information will flow in both directions, Wegrzyn said — taking data and innovation from the field as well as pushing discoveries from research institutions across the network. “Really hard problems require team science,” said Dr. Julie Louise Gerberding, CEO at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. Access to care would yield dividends A new ARPA-H hub in Dallas will focus on accessibility, including diversifying clinical trials and reaching representative patient populations. “By design, we’re trying to make sure [new treatments are] accessible, cost-effective and really usable for our patients and health care providers,” Wegrzyn said. Dr. Clifford Hudis, CEO of the American Society Of Clinical Oncology, said that simply ensuring all patients access to current, state-of-the-art care would improve outcomes by 20 percent.
| | | | A message from March of Dimes: According to March of Dimes’ new set of reports, “Where You Live Matters: Maternity Care Deserts and the Crisis of Access and Equity,” more than 5.6 million women in counties with no or limited access to maternity care services. Access to care continues to decline with a 4 percent decrease in birthing hospitals in one year and, overall, the loss of 301 birthing units in the U.S. since March of Dimes began reporting in 2018. | | | | | | | 
New Harbor, Maine | Shawn Zeller | | This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com, Daniel Payne at dpayne@politico.com, Evan Peng at epeng@politico.com or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp. Today on our Pulse Check podcast, host Alice Miranda Ollstein talks with POLITICO health care reporter Kelly Hooper about the Biden administration's decision, so far, to retain a Trump-era health rule that allows employers to steer their workers to the Obamacare exchanges.
| | | | | | | A message from March of Dimes:   | | | | | | |  World leaders are proposing a big new goal for treating tuberculosis. | AP | The U.N. General Assembly will vote on a plan to end the tuberculosis epidemic next month. World leaders gave the plan to treat 90 percent of the people who contract the infectious disease preliminary approval last week in New York City. They also proposed to give at least 90 percent of the people at high risk of contracting TB preventive treatment and provide financial aid to people with the disease to help pay their bills. Why it matters: “If countries follow through on their commitments, it will put the world on track to ending TB by 2030 and providing life-saving treatment for 45 million people between 2023 and 2027,” the Stop TB Partnership, a U.N.-backed organization advocating for people with the disease, said in a statement. Some 10.6 million people fell ill with tuberculosis in 2021, according to the latest World Health Organization estimates, a 4.5 percent increase from 2020. And 1.6 million people died from TB, which is caused by an infectious bacteria, in 2021. Even so: While TB was the top infectious killer in the world before Covid-19 arrived, it tends to affect mostly poor people. Getting wealthy nations to help combat the disease has proven a challenge, public health advocates said. “A political declaration is a piece of paper. What happens when we go back home? How do we ensure that this political declaration makes a difference to reduce my suffering, suffering of people with TB who are dying every day?” said Blessina Kumar, a TB community worker from India, speaking at a Stop TB Partnership event last week.
| | | | GO INSIDE THE CAPITOL DOME: From the outset, POLITICO has been your eyes and ears on Capitol Hill, providing the most thorough Congress coverage — from political characters and emerging leaders to leadership squabbles and policy nuggets during committee markups and hearings. We're stepping up our game to ensure you’re fully informed on every key detail inside the Capitol Dome, all day, every day. Start your day with Playbook AM, refuel at midday with our Playbook PM halftime report and enrich your evening discussions with Huddle. Plus, stay updated with real-time buzz all day through our brand new Inside Congress Live feature. Learn more and subscribe here. | | | | | | | | | A message from March of Dimes: As the leader in the fight for the health of all moms and babies, March of Dimes released this set of reports to raise awareness and illustrate the actions needed to improve outcomes for moms and babies.
Policy solutions around telehealth can address the limited access to maternity care in the U.S., expanding accessibility and providing more options for healthcare delivery. Telehealth can replace or enhance in-person care and can save lives by providing high-quality care to women across the country.
March of Dimes has also long supported policies that improve access to quality health care, advance health equity initiatives, and improve research and surveillance, by demanding lawmakers prioritize #BlanketChange policies.
We all have a role to play in addressing maternal health challenges. Call on leaders at the federal level, to implement new policies that put the health of moms and babies at the forefront. Act today at https://p2a.co/ga3vxkl | | | | | | | 
Sesame Street is telling children of parents suffering from addiction they are not alone. | Getty Images | | | 2,000,000+ The number of children in the U.S. living with a parent with substance use disorder, excluding alcoholism, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration | | Karli, a green Muppet with a purple nose and yellow pigtails, is in foster care while her mother seeks treatment for substance use disorder. The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts, a New York City nonprofit fighting the opioid crisis, is enlisting Karli to raise awareness of the crisis’ impact on kids. How so? The foundation is giving the Sesame Workshop, maker of the children’s TV show “Sesame Street,” an $840,000 grant to create storybooks, videos and interactive activities featuring Karli. The idea is to help children of people with substance use disorder know they’re not alone, help bolster their sense of security and provide emotional support. “Focusing on younger children in families already affected by [opioid use disorder] provides opportunities to change the trajectory of the next generation,” the foundation’s president, Karen Scott, said at a Washington event announcing the grant. Why it matters: More than 1,800 teens died between July 2019 and December 2021 from taking the synthetic opioid fentanyl, a 182 percent increase compared with the previous period, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Help for caregivers: The foundation will also give a $500,000 grant to the American Academy of Pediatrics to create guidance for doctors who treat kids on age-appropriate prevention, harm reduction and treatment strategies and advice on how to eliminate the stigma that can impede open discussions about substance use. The AAP will also organize town hall meetings on substance use and overdose prevention in teens and young adults, said Dr. Debra Waldron, the academy’s senior vice president for healthy resilient children, youth and families.
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