Friends of Cancer Research Newsletter

In The News

"Proof of Progress"
Louisville Courier Journal
July 2, 2008

"National cancer experts meet in Louisville to discuss future of cancer care"
Triangle Business Journal
July 2, 2008

"Balancing Drug Safety and Drug Approvals "
The RPM Report
July 1, 2008

"Drug Makers Say FDA Safety Focus Is Slowing New-Medicine Pipeline"
Wall Street Journal
June 30, 2008
Our Mission
Friends of Cancer Research is a non-profit organization that creates effective collaboration between medical professionals, scientists, public officials, patients, and other research advocates in order to accelerate innovation in cancer prevention, detection, and treatment.

Friends is working hard to promote cancer research in Washington and across the country. Find out what you can do to support Friends.
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(703) 302-1503
www.focr.org

Budget Update:

FY 08 Emergency Supplemental Includes Funding for NIH, FDA
 
On June 30 President Bush signed the FY 08 Emergency Supplemental bill into law.  The supplemental includes $150 million for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and $150 million for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  The National Cancer Institute (NCI) should receive $20 million of the NIH funds.
 
Update on FY 09 Appropriations 
 
NIH FY 09
On June 26, the Senate Appropriation Committee approved the FY 09 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill.  This bill provides $30.1 billion for the NIH, an increase of $875 million over the FY 08 and the President's budget.
 
The House Labor- HHS subcommittee has approved a bill that includes $30.38 billion for NIH, an increase of $1.15 billion over FY 08.  The full committee mark-up ended with no result and further action is pending.
 
FDA FY 09 
The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee marked up the FY 09 FDA appropriations bill on June 19th.  The bill includes $2.1 billion in funding for FDA, a $282 million increase over the President's budget for 2009. teh subsequent full House Appropriations Committee mark-up of this spending bill ended with no result on June 19th and further action is still pending.
 
The Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee mark-up was held Tuesday, July 15. The funding for FDA in FY 09 is $2.039 billion, an increase of $325 million over the FY 08 level approved in December 2007. This would allow teh $150 million FY 08 supplemental funding to be wholly available to FDA and not treated as an advance payment on FY 09 funding. The full Senate Appropriations Committee is meeting on July 17 to consider the FDA spending bill.
 


Harkin, Specter Hold Hearing on NIH Budget
 
On July 16, the Senate Subcommitee on Labor-Health and Human Services, Chaired by Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and ranking member Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) held a hearing to examine the NIH budget. During the hearing, Dr. Elias Zerhouni, Director of the NIH, testified that the current funding levels could have serious consequences on the Institutes' ability to perform research and train and recruit future scientists, and that "Medical research is a long term process and not something that can be managed every twelve months."
 
Sen. Specter recalled the Nixon 1971 "War on Cancer", stating that, "Had that war been pursued with the same intensity of other wars, many of us, including myself would not have cancer right now."
 
Senator Specter emphasized the need for an increase in NIH funding, especially at the NCI. In questioning Dr. John Niederhuber, Director of the NCI, Sen. Specter referred to a letter that he drafted  to members of the cancer community asking how much it would cost to bring us closer to a "cure" for cancer. The response letter, signed by several prominant cancer groups, came up with an estimated investment of $335 billion over 15 years.
 
Dr. Neiderhuber emphasized the need to think strategically about current and future investments in research. He stated that a key part of that investment would be in the reengineering of the clinical trial infrastructure, and that, "Highly personalized medicine will require a different structure, and take a significant financial investment to retool that to work effectively." He also emphasized Dr. Zerhouni's point for the need to increase investment to attract and keep new scientists.
 
Specter, Harkin Introduce $5.2 Billion NIH Supplemental - Bill Seeks to Keep NIH Funding Levels Consistent with Inflation
 
On July 16th, Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) introduced legislation to provide an additional $5.2 billion to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for Fiscal Year 2008. The two leaders of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services and Education (LHHS) authored the bill to allocate $1.2 billion for the National Cancer Institute and $4 billion for the other NIH institutes.
 
The $5.2 billion supplemental seeks to reestablish NIH funding at levels consistent with inflation and provide the Institutes with the resources to discover cures for cancer and other maladies. Senators Specter and Harkin determined the figure after consulting with the NIH and the cancer research community.
 
The bill will be referred to the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
 
 
(L-R) Dr. Jason Chesney, Susan Dentzer, Dr. Ellen Sigal, Dr. Anna Barker, Dr. bob Mass, Susan Moreman, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, Sen. Mitch McConnel, Dr. Donald Miller and Dr. James Ramsey
Friends Partners With James Graham Brown Cancer Center for Community Town Hall
 
 
On July 2, Friends of Cancer Research and the University of Louisville James Graham Brown Cancer Center presented a town hall symposium titled "Discovery to Delivery" to a crowded auditorium of attendees to discuss the future of cancer research.  The panel, moderated by Susan Dentzer, Editor-in-Chief, Health Affairs, included Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Minority Leader; Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, FDA Commissioner; Dr. Anna Barker, NCI Deputy Director; Dr. Donald Miller, Director, James Brown Cancer Center; Dr. Jason Chesney, Associate Director of Translational Reseach, James Graham Brown Cancer Center; Dr. Bob Mass, Principal Medical Director, Genentech; and Susan Moremen, a Louisville cancer research advocate and survivor.
 
Panel discussion focused on the current progress in cancer research.  Dr. Miller described the exciting research occurring at the Univ. of Louisville and the need for accelerated cancer research in Kentucky due to the state's high cancer rate.  Dr. von Eschenbach talked about the great "progress to not only observe cancer, but the progress to understand cancer as a disease process."

 

Discussion also focused on increased funding for cancer research and the NCI.  Dr. Barker stated that, "The estimated cost of cancer in this country this year will be approximately $219 billion and will increase by 30% over the next 15 years."  Senator McConnell spoke about the role Congress has in increasing funding for cancer research, stating, "A specific business plan is needed to stimulate funding by laying out a specific goal for funding."  He noted that the agencies need to come to Congress with a plan, because Congress does not have the expertise to distinguish the needs between competing diseases.
 
To view video of the town hall please click here: http://browncancercenter.org/news/news_ind.aspx?id=324

**Please note that there will not be an August edition of the newsletter, we will return in September.