He has promised to put Americans on Mars and end the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
But Donald Trump's most impactful move could be spearheading the world's first cancer vaccine.
This week, amid a flurry of executive orders, the new president announced a $500 billion undertaking that he described as the “largest AI infrastructure project in history.”
The White House says Project Stargate will create tens of thousands of new jobs and usher in a new technological revolution.
But the biggest promise is finally producing cancer drugs, according to one of the AI bosses involved in the program.
Larry Ellison, chief technology officer at computer software company Oracle, said the technology could use simple blood tests to scan for small tumor cells, which neither humans nor current laboratory tests can detect.
In this way, patients with the earliest forms of the disease can be identified and treated before the cancer spreads.
He continued, “Once we have the gene sequence of that cancer tumor, you can vaccinate that person, design a vaccine for each individual person to vaccinate them against that cancer and you can create that mRNA vaccine robotically using AI in about 48 hours. '
He described curing cancer as “the promise of the future.” Later in the press conference, Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI who created ChatGPT, said AI will lead to the cure of diseases “at an unprecedented pace.”
Larry Ellison, chief technology officer at computer software company Oracle, spoke about his company's potential cancer vaccine during a White House meeting with President Donald Trump on Tuesday
Mr Ellison said a potential personalized cancer vaccine is “the promise of AI and the promise of the future”.
Altman said, “We'll be amazed at how quickly we cure this cancer and that one heart disease and what this will do for the ability to deliver very high quality health care… to cure the diseases at a rapid pace.
'I think [this technology] will be one of the most important things.'
Similar experimental mRNA cancer vaccines have been in development since the technology was developed during the Covid pandemic.
mRNA vaccines entered the public sphere when Trump initiated Operation Warp Speed, a campaign to facilitate and accelerate the development and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.
Trump faced anger from his base over his involvement in the mRNA Covid vaccines, which his administration funded, and many Republicans and Trump supporters were resistant to the shots.
With mRNA cancer vaccines, scientists take a sample of a cancer patient's tumor and analyze its genetic code. Each tumor is genetically different, meaning no two cancer vaccines are the same.
They then use some of this, called RNA, to develop a tailor-made vaccine for the patient in a laboratory. When injected, the injection instructs the body's cells to produce a harmless part of the tumor, which triggers a response from the immune system.
This process trains the immune system to detect this element of the cancer in the future and thus provide protection against the disease.
Biden received his mRNA Covid shot in 2021
Traditional vaccines work on a similar principle, using a small or weakened part of a pathogen, such as a virus, to help the immune system recognize it as a threat.
The problem is that these highly personalized vaccines take months to develop and are extremely expensive: about $100,000 per patient.
It is hoped that AI could detect cancer in its infancy, vastly speed up vaccine production and reduce costs.
Despite the promises, some political commentators on the right criticized Project Stargate.
Evan Kilgore posted on
“The Trump administration must learn that his base largely DESPISES him for Operation Warp Speed and how heavily experimental vaccines were promoted.”
Trump has also nominated staunch vaccine critic Robert F Kennedy Junior as head of Health and Human Services, who has raised concerns about vaccine efficacy and linked childhood vaccines to autism.
The president called Stargate a “monumental undertaking and a resounding statement of confidence in America's potential under a new president.”
Mr. Ellison, speaking alongside OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, explained that “tumor fragments” are “floating” in a patient's body and that AI could analyze a person's blood for signs of cancer.
He continued, “Once we have the gene sequence of that cancer tumor, you can vaccinate that person, design a vaccine for each individual person to vaccinate them against that cancer and you can create that mRNA vaccine robotically using AI in about 48 hours. '
Mr Ellison added: 'So imagine early detection of cancer, developing a cancer vaccine for your specific cancer, targeted to you, and having that vaccine available within about 48 hours.
“This is the promise of AI and the promise of the future.”
But it remains to be seen how a new vaccine will be received as top health leaders in the Trump administration have opposed vaccines and vaccine mandates, including the new head of the FDA, Dr. Marty Makary, who opposed Covid vaccine mandates.
Despite any criticism or doubts, a new cancer treatment would likely be a welcome breakthrough in the medical community as the number of cases of this disease increases worldwide.
Between 1990 and 2019, cancer cases among young people around the world increased by 79 percent and deaths increased by 28 percent. Studies predict that by 2030, diagnoses will continue to rise by 31 percent and deaths will increase by 21 percent.
Nearly every continent is experiencing an increase in several types of cancer in people under 50 years old, which is especially problematic because the disease is often discovered in later stages in this population because most doctors are not trained to look for it in young people. .
mRNA vaccines were brought into the public sphere during the Covid pandemic when Trump initiated Operation Warp Speed, a campaign to facilitate and accelerate the development and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.
The above graph shows the change in cancer rates around the world
Globally, Australia has seen the highest rate of premature cancer diagnoses in the world, with a rate of 135 per 100,000 people.
The United States ranks sixth, with 87 cases per 100,000 people under 50, and Britain ranks 28th, with 70.5 cases per 100,000 people.
Cancers that are increasing most rapidly are throat and prostate cancer. Early-onset cancers with the highest mortality include breast, trachea (trachea), lung, stomach and colon cancers.
Experts have long speculated that rising obesity rates and previous cancer research could be behind this rise, as well as high-fat diets, alcohol consumption and tobacco use.
The above shows the expected increase in cancer cases in the US by 2050
However, because lifestyles, habits and diets vary so much from country to country, they now believe that these factors are not entirely responsible for the increase and that more recent researchers have begun to focus on a genetic component of early cancer.
Some have found that younger people develop more aggressive tumors than older patients, which can better suppress a person's immune system.
Trump's announcement Tuesday is one in a long line of health care changes the new president implemented in just the first few days of his second term.
On Monday, the president signed an executive order declaring that the U.S. government will recognize only men and women as official genders, drawing opposition from LGBTQIA+ advocates.
Shortly after his inauguration, Trump also withdrew from the World Health Organization — for the second time — raising concerns among experts that the fight against global diseases such as AIDS, malaria, polio and tuberculosis could take a serious hit.
In addition, the president also signed an order rolling back the Biden administration's efforts to roll back prescription drug costs for people on Medicaid and Medicare. However, experts say the reversal likely won't have much effect on what most people pay out of pocket for medications.
