Your Immediate Action Needed to Save Cancer Research

[Guest guest]

Please help cancer patients get the new treatments they need. Time is of the essence. Please contact your Congressmen and Representatives Now!

Action is needed by everyone to make sure we do not lose good science that is focused on improvements for patients by the researchers who take part in the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Specialized Program Of Research Excellence (SPORE) program (http://tinyurl.com/884cg).

There are changes being made in how SPORE grants are funded, due to budget pressures at the NCI. This will have a negative impact on existing SPORE grants, resulting in good science that will not be renewed. It is also a very inefficient use of our tax dollars.

In the NCI Director's Bulletin October 12, 2004, Dr. Antman said "One of the challenges we face is to accelerate these encouraging trends... (An) important component of this effort will be the continued emphasis on translational research."

We must support translational research that brings new discoveries to people, which is what the SPORE program does, so that patients receive more effective treatments as quickly as possible.

****Two steps are needed that could correct the current problem****

1. We need to ask Congress to encourage the NCI Director to form an Office of Translational Research at the Director's level.

2. We must continue to review SPORE grants by each type of cancer until the office is formed and a new programmatic review system is developed.

Please get this message to the men and women that you voted for. It is imperative to make sure the currently funded SPORE programs that are producing good science have their grants renewed.

Take a few minutes TODAY to fax, call and/or email your U. S. senators and representatives:

1. Go to http://www.congress.org, fill in your zip code, and you will find their phone, fax and email addresses to contact them.

2. A handwritten letter that is faxed will get the best results, but any action is helpful.

3. Be sure to include your full name and address in any communication that you send. This is very important since many elected officials will only read mail from constituents.

We need MANY letters and calls to emphasize this message. Our representatives and congressmen do pay attention when their telephone and fax lines are "jammed" with communications, especially from their constituents. This is an issue that affects all people living with cancer and we MUST work together to make our voices heard.

Please forward this note to your friends, family, coworkers and any other groups who are interested in cancer issues. We need to tell Congress that we want research to get translated from the lab to the clinic to benefit current and future cancer patients and their families, and to impress upon them how crucial this concern is to their constituents.

If you have any questions, contact Donna Cline at dadvocate@....

She would like a copy of what you send so we know which representatives have been contacted. This information will be used for follow-up, and we encourage each of you to follow-up as well.

Below is information about the SPORE program and the problems that must be resolved. Remember, it is important to patients that new laboratory discoveries get into the clinic as quickly and safely as possible. The SPORE program is a major way we can achieve that goal. You can use the information below in your communication.

What is the current crisis?

Translational research is not a permanent part of the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

§ NCI divisions are not accountable for the translation of scientific discoveries into end results.

§ Most federally funded cancer research in universities focuses on knowledge, not results.

§ Professors are not normally rewarded for multi-disciplinary or translational research, as they are mandated in the SPORE Program.

The SPORE Program is NCI's starting point for translational research: SPOREs have been funded since 1992. There are currently 58 SPOREs, 14 cancers in 24 institutions.

§ SPOREs changed paradigms and challenged status quo making 'team science' a reality.

§ Arbitrary budget cuts loom just when investments are starting to pay off.

§ Recent changes limit SPORE progress. SPORE strengths should be preserved to maximize translational efforts and reap Return On Investment.

§ This affects ALL types of cancer, ALL translational research, and ALL patients and their families.

Why is the SPORE Program unique?

SPORE goals are to fund the best science and translate the results into cancers that people get. SPOREs study how cancer cells operate and apply solutions to specific cancers.

§ Results include new approaches to prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment.

SPORE grants include organizational support AND research projects that require basic and clinical investigators, and scientists who study populations of people (epidemiologists), to team up on specific human cancers.

Collaborations are strongly encouraged between SPOREs across the U.S.

§ Results: Multi-center clinical trials, biomarker studies, prevention studies, genetic registries, data sharing, and tissue banking projects, all with the focus on results for patients.

SPORE Program staff provide flexible management to facilitate research developments into clinical results.

What is Needed: 'Leveling' the playing field

1. Keep current SPOREs funded to turn promising scientific results into

real improvements for cancer patients.

2. Reverse recent SPORE changes so different cancers are not pitted

against one another.

3. Stand by NCI commitment to assist in the development of 23

high-priority SPORE therapies and biomarkers.

To learn more:

§ "GOALS" of the SPORE Program (http://tinyurl.com/7wuzp)

§ What are SPORES and why are they unique? (http://tinyurl.com/884cg)

§ Current Problems (http://tinyurl.com/8gb67)

§ Without the SPORE Programs (http://tinyurl.com/96jfv)

§ About the NCI SPORE Program http://tinyurl.com/884cg)

Thank you for helping cancer patients get better treatments - they need your action now!