Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 2, 2007|Volume 36, Number 9

Funding cuts have created a ‘crisis’ in the battle against cancer, says panel

The battle against cancer is in danger of being stalled, not for lack of scientific progress, but for lack of funding — that was the consensus of the panelists at “Discovery to Delivery: A Public Forum About the Future of Cancer Research” on Oct. 22.

The forum, held in the Anlyan Center at Yale School of Medicine, was co-sponsored by the Yale Cancer Center, Yale-New Haven Hospital and the non-profit organization Friends of Cancer Research. The featured speakers included physicians, politicians, researchers and cancer survivors.

The panelists pointed out that cutting-edge research is currently being done at the Yale Cancer Center and other such facilities across the nation. This includes identifying new bio-markers that can be used to help detect cancer earlier or even to predict an individual’s future risk for developing the disease.

However, the panelists noted, the 2008 federal budget being proposed by President George W. Bush would decrease funding to the National Cancer Institute by $11 million, and this would, in turn, reduce the grant money available to fund research at these U.S. cancer centers.

“Unfortunately, because of funding cuts, we are now in a crisis,” said Dr. Daniel DiMaio, scientific director at the Yale Cancer Center. “Much important science is not being done, and much is being done on a shoestring. We need to restore funding to a level so that more highly meritorious research can be supported, so that we can maintain the momentum we have achieved and accelerate future discoveries.”

Dr. Susan Mayne, director of prevention and control at the Yale Cancer Center, added, “We have an explosion of opportunity in cancer prevention research resulting from advances in cancer biology, genomics and informatics, but that is not being paralleled by an explosion in research. Currently, only grants ranking in the top 11th to 15th percentile are being funded, and typically, that’s only after multiple submission attempts.”

Programs that promote prevention and early detection of cancer, which are key to reducing the mortality rate from disease, are also being threatened by these budget cuts, noted the panelists.

Another important key to saving lives in the future, agreed the panelists, is raising public awareness of the major advancements being made against the disease through events such as the “Discovery to Delivery” forum.

In fact, winning the battle against cancer will require a “team effort” between doctors, scientists, politicians and the general public, contended Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “There needs to be a national commitment. We need to bring all the parts and pieces together.”

Other panelists at the “Discovery to Delivery” forum included U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT); Dr. Louis Denis of Pfizer Oncology; Dr. Edward Chu of the Yale Cancer Center; and Barbara Olivier, executive director of Y-Me Connecticut, a non-profit organization devoted to breast cancer issues.

— By Emily Fenton

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