Ron, Casey DeSantis herald groundbreaking carbon-ion therapy investment at Jacksonville’s Mayo Clinic

Florida’s First Couple continues to demonstrate a commitment to cancer research, helping to bring new technology to the state that can help those with the toughest forms of the disease.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis returned to Jacksonville to highlight new investments at the Duan Family Building at the Mayo Clinic. It’s part of $218 million appropriated last year, marking over a billion dollars since the Governor was elected, with more than $100 million going to Mayo alone.

“We are here today with the backdrop of all the heavy artillery you see for treating cancer to announce the next major step forward,” the Governor said.

“Mayo Clinic is now launching the technology for the first carbon ion therapy program anywhere in the United States of America. And in fact, it’ll be the only carbon ion therapy program in the entire Western Hemisphere. So this is newer technology. Japan has really embraced it. Mayo’s the first one in the United States.”

Roughly $30 million of state money went into this initiative, which the Governor said is the most advanced form of radiation treatment for cancers that don’t respond well to traditional radiation. He also said it’s a way to continue boosting the “upward trajectory of the medical community” in Florida.

DeSantis said proton and carbon-ion treatments would be available in 2027 and 2028, respectively, with the latter pending federal approval by the Food and Drug Administration. He said carbon-ion had been proven successful in Japan, and had benefits beyond the localized cancer itself.

“There’s a school of thought that it basically helps with your natural immunity or some of the other medications for other parts of your body that would potentially be subjected (to cancer risk),” DeSantis said.

Dr. Kent R. Thielen, Vice President of the Mayo Clinic, called this investment a “transformative moment in the future of family care,” with the most technologically advanced treatment modality anywhere. Carbon-ion treatment particularly helps patients and cancers resistant to proton therapy, he said, as the former is 12 times heavier than the latter and therefore can be more medically effective than proton therapy alone.

Adults and children could be treated in the coming years, Thielen added.

Casey DeSantis said this was a “huge deal” for Florida and well beyond. A cancer survivor who has ongoing effects from radiation therapy herself, she expressed hope that the new technology would improve the quality of life of those who beat the dreaded disease.