Korean biotech companies participated in the first summit of CancerX, the first CancerX activity since the organization's launch. However, observers said it would likely take time for the participating companies' R&D activities to get in full swing.

The Inaugural CancerX Member Summit was held on Thursday last week (local time) in Washington, D.C. CancerX is a public-private partnership established by the Joe Biden administration to fulfill the Cancer Moonshot, a project to conquer cancer.

According to industry sources, five Korean companies participated in the summit: Lunit, EDGC, CytoGen, Prestige Biopharma, and CUBEBIO. In addition, 12 U.S. government agencies and 89 pharmaceutical, bio, and diagnostic companies, including AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, attended.

EDGC, one of the Korean participants, explained that the summit crystallized the partnership between the U.S. administration and CancerX members. The summit reaffirmed the common goals of the Cancer Moonshot collaborative and materialized plans for collaboration among members and future activities.

"This CancerX Summit served as a starting point for us to consider ways to collaborate with the U.S. administration and CancerX members and to concretize the implementation of the Cancer Moonshot project," EDGC CEO Lee Min-seop said. "We will focus all our efforts on promoting and commercializing the technical excellence of EDGC's liquid biopsy in collaboration with the U.S. and other global companies.”

A CytoGen official said, "Participating companies were divided into four lead groups. Participants in the digital healthcare industry related to cancer had free discussions, opinions, and topics, including systemic problems and improvements, such as insurance claims."

However, some companies explained that the summit was more of a reaffirmation of the cooperation system, and no specific decisions were made that would affect each member or participating company.

"There were a lot of theoretical talks about what we (CancerX) will do in a pleasant atmosphere, but no specific contents were discussed. All there was the White House announcement,” an industry executive said.

Another industry insider said, "I understand that they will be publishing a report in the future. It will be more specific."

CancerX will increase communication and partnership exchanges between the consortium members. It also plans to launch leading demonstration projects in 2024.

On Tuesday, the group also announced the appointment of a 12-member steering committee.

"We are proud to accelerate the digital advancement of Cancer Moonshot's ambitious goals through CancerX," said Ben Moscovitch, director of Healthcare and Life Sciences Public Policy at Amazon Web Services. "Applying technologies like advanced computing and machine learning, while prioritizing safety, security, and trust, can lead to significant breakthroughs in the prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer."

Anabella Aspiras, deputy director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said, "Our mission is to more than halve cancer mortality in the United States over the next 25 years, preventing at least 4 million cancer deaths and improving the experience of people with cancer, their patients, and their families." said.

She went on to say, “We are thrilled to see the progress CancerX is making in support of these goals by leveraging the expertise of more than 100 partners to drive innovation in cancer prevention, diagnosis, research, treatment, and care.”