Cancer research, long protected, feels ‘devastating’ effects under Trump

For decades, cancer held a near-sacred spot in the American biomedical enterprise, commanding the lion’s share of research dollars and support from both Democrats and Republicans. Now, not even cancer is protected from political change. More than a dozen people in the cancer field — including researchers, clinicians, policy experts, advocates, and patients — told STAT that government and congressional actions since President Trump’s inauguration are threatening treatment for cancer patients and the development of new therapies or cures. As they faced what felt to them like a bombardment of cuts, delays, and policy changes to science, the word members of the cancer community used over and over to describe the changes was “devastating.”

“It could be quite devastating to the United States, to the cancer space, to people’s lives,” Knudsen said.
“Now is not the time to slow down. Now is the time, she said, for the government to do whatever it can to speed cancer research up.” Trump budget cuts blindside cancer researchers and patients.

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