Joe Biden’s cancer nonprofit is shutting down as the Democrat focuses on the 2020 race.
The Biden Cancer Initiative announced Monday that it shuttered operations on July 11 because of “unique circumstances,” according to the New York Post. The nonprofit was reportedly struggling to operate after Biden and his wife left it for the campaign trail — but Biden may have divested himself to avoid conflicts of interest, the Associated Press reported.
“Today, we are suspending activities given our unique circumstances. We remain personally committed to the cause, but at this time will have to pause efforts,” said Greg Simon, the nonprofit’s executive director.
Closing the door
The former vice president started the group in 2017 to honor his son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015. The nonprofit started out as an extension of former President Barack Obama’s Cancer Moonshot program, which Biden oversaw. Both programs aim to speed up cancer research.
Biden’s nonprofit was struggling to maintain momentum without Biden and his wife Jill’s involvement, the AP reported. The Bidens resigned from the board of the organization in April to focus on Biden’s presidential run.
The Democrat may have suspended the nonprofit to avoid conflict of interest questions over the group’s partnerships with private health care and drug companies. Some of the partners touted by Biden in speeches have lobbied the federal government, the AP reported.
The Bidens resigned from the board to get ahead of ethics concerns, the AP reported, but Biden’s philanthropy may have been too entangled with private interests to put the conflict of interest questions to rest as he seeks the presidency. In January 2018, Biden spoke at a San Francisco conference sponsored by a health tech firm whose chief medical officer is his son-in-law. At the same conference, Biden praised a medical entrepreneur who helped raise funds for his campaign.
The Biden campaign told the AP that if Biden is elected, he would issue an executive order and staff guidance on hiring lobbyists and other ethics concerns. The campaign also maintained that Biden commits to ”the highest standards of ethical culture.”
Biden’s nonprofit had almost 60 partnerships with private companies and charities that pledged over $400 million for cancer treatment over its two years of operation. Most of the group’s philanthropy came in the form of indirect pledges to the partners to fund their research and work, rather than direct donations to the nonprofit.
Continuing the fight
The former vice president was touting the nonprofit’s partnerships as recently as September, but it was struggling to secure new commitments. Simon said that some of the nonprofit’s partnerships were “not successful” but he did not elaborate.
Biden’s nonprofit was also allied with some 12 pharmaceutical companies that lobby the government — a fact that may clash with Biden’s official campaign messaging about fighting back against Big Pharma, the AP reported. Biden vowed to stop the “abuse” of major drug companies and lower drug prices as he unveiled his $750 billion health care plan on Monday. The plan will be funded in part by ratcheting up taxes on the wealthy.
Biden rolled out the plan declaring, “If you like your plan, you can keep it.” The Democrat sought to contrast his Medicare-like public option plan, which is essentially an expansion of Obamacare, with Democrats calling to eliminate private health insurance — but it brought to mind President Obama’s infamous lie about Obamacare.
The Bidens also shut down their family charity, the Biden Foundation, as Biden’s campaign kicked off in April, the Washington Examiner reported. Although Biden is suspending his nonprofit, he has said that he would end cancer if elected president, according to Fox News.
“I’ve worked hard in my career, that I promise you, I’m elected president, you’re going to see [the] single most important thing that changes America, we’re going to cure cancer,” he told Iowans in June.
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