"Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, the director of the National Cancer Institute, announced in 2003 that his organization’s goal was to 'eliminate suffering and death' caused by cancer by 2015. During an appropriations hearing, Dr. von Eschenbach got into a public bargaining session with Senator Arlen Specter, then a Republican from Pennsylvania, about how much money Dr. von Eschenbach would need to advance the date of the cure … 'Six-hundred million a year?" Mr. Specter asked. "And you can move the date from 2015 to 2010?' 'Yes, sir,' Mr. von Eschenbach said. Mr. Specter died of cancer in 2012."
[NYT / Gina Kolata and Gardiner Harris]
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/health/moonshot-to-cure-cancer-to-be-led-by-biden-relies-on-outmoded-view-of-disease.html?_r=0