The signing of the National Cancer Act of 1971 by United States president Richard Nixon is generally viewed as the beginning of this effort, though it was not described as a "war" in the legislation itself.

[7] New research directions, in part based on the results of the Human Genome Project, hold promise for a better understanding of the genetic factors underlying cancer, and the development of new diagnostics, therapies, preventive measures, and early detection ability.

[10] Health activist and philanthropist Mary Lasker was instrumental in persuading the United States Congress to pass the National Cancer Act.

Lasker's devotion to medical research and experience in the field eventually contributed to the passing of the National Cancer Act.

[14][15] This was supported by the American Association for Cancer Research in 2005[16] though some scientists felt this goal was impossible to reach and undermined von Eschenbach's credibility.

[18] Harold Varmus, former director of the NIH and director of the NCI from 2010 to 2015,[19][20] held a town hall meeting in 2010[21] in which he outlined his priorities for improving the cancer research program, including the following: Recent years have seen an increased perception of a lack of progress in the war on cancer, and renewed motivation to confront the disease.

[5][22] On July 15, 2008, the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions convened a panel discussion titled, Cancer: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century.

"[7] The bill aims to improve patient access to prevention and early detection by: During their 2008 U.S. presidential campaign then Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden published a plan to combat cancer that entailed doubling "federal funding for cancer research within 5 years, focusing on NIH and NCI" as well as working "with Congress to increase funding for the Food and Drug Administration.

The new effort will signal a "reignition" of the "cancer moonshot" Biden began as vice president under Barack Obama.

Moonshot 2.0 was reported to be deeply imbued with personal grief, since the president's son Beau had died the year before from brain cancer.

[41] Biden's new plan calls for a "cancer Cabinet", as well as a new federal agency for high-level research for which his administration is seeking $6.5 billion in seed funding.

The president named Danielle Carnival, a neuroscientist who worked on the 2016 cancer initiative, to oversee the moonshot's second version.

[42] Moonshot 2.0 would continue work from 2016, involving fostering public-private partnerships, including with biomedical giants, community organizations and academic institutions.

The administration noted that the pandemic showed that researchers collaborating across countries and regulatory barriers could work to produce vaccines whose safety and efficacy are widely regarded as "a marvel of science".

[43] This was on the same day as United States' 2022 Moonshot 2.0 initiative calling for increasing collaboration for a new front in the war on cancer across countries.

It was launched by the Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid at the Francis Crick institute in London.

[49] A large portion of this decreased mortality for men was attributable to smoking cessation efforts in the United States.

[82] One TCGA publication notes the following: Here we report the interim integrative analysis of DNA copy number, gene expression and DNA methylation aberrations in 206 glioblastomas...Together, these findings establish the feasibility and power of TCGA, demonstrating that it can rapidly expand knowledge of the molecular basis of cancer.

[citation needed] A major challenge in cancer treatment is to find better ways to specifically target tumors with drugs and chemotherapeutic agents in order to provide a more effective, localized dose and to minimize exposure of healthy tissue in other parts of the body to the potentially adverse effects of the treatments.

Resources have been created by governmental and other organizations to provide support for cancer patients, their families and caregivers, to help them share information and find advice to guide decision making.