$ woes for cancer research

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The 10 federally funded cancer cooperative groups, which enroll nearly half

of the patients in the nation who are participating in cancer trials, have

begun to shut down trials and stop studying certain cancers amid funding

concerns.

Snip

The National Cancer Institute, which provides funding for the cancer

cooperatives, had asked the groups

to come up with cuts because federal funding for the agency has been flat,

and inflation is eating into its

spending power. All agencies under the Department of Health and Human

Services have been operating

under a " continuing resolution, " which extended the fiscal 2006 budget

levels until Feb. 15, when

Congress must either pass the fiscal 2007 budget or extend the resolution.

Both the '06 and proposed '07

budgets maintained essentially flat funding levels for the NCI, which is

part of the National Institutes of

Health.

President Bush's proposed fiscal '08 budget includes an increase of 0.8% for

the NIH overall, but a

decline of 0.2%, or $9 million, in the NCI's budget, to $4.78 billion. So

NCI officials are anticipating

further financial constraints.

Snip

Dr. Comis said the cooperative groups are postponing by one to two quarters

all Phase II clinical trials.

This will delay the chance of getting a new drug approved or getting

existing ones approved for

additional types of cancer.

Complete article can be found in the 2/7/07 WallStreet Journal

C. Meade

 

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