Highlights & Updates

Research and Policy News

Bookmark this page to see the latest research and policy news affecting the cancer research community.

• March 28 2011 - U.S. Senate, Committee on Appropriations Hearing on FY 2013 NIH Budget
  
  On March 28, the Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee held a hearing on the President's fiscal year 2013 budget request for the NIH. NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins testified before the Subcommittee, accompanied by NCI Director, Dr. Harold Varmus and various NIH Institute and Center directors.  During the hearing, Dr. Varmus addressed questions and comments from senators on the NCI's investment in pancreatic cancer research, the Provocative Questions project, and strategies for making progress against cancer during times of budgetary constraint. Read the written testimony submitted by Dr. Varmus...

• March 20 2011 - U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations Hearing on FY 2013 NIH Budget
  
  On March 20, the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee held a hearing on the President's fiscal year 2013 budget request for the NIH. The hearing focused on NIH's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins testified before the Subcommittee, along with Dr. Thomas Insel, NCATS Acting Director and NIMH Director.  A second panel of witnesses from the pharmaceutical industry and biomedical research advocacy community also testified.  NCI Director Dr. Harold Varmus, NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, and NIH Deputy Director Dr. Lawrence Tabak also accompanied Drs. Collins and Insel.  Read the written testimony submitted by Dr. Varmus...

• May 11 2011 - U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Hearing on FY 2012 NIH Budget
  
  On May 11 2011, the Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee held a hearing on the President's fiscal year 2012 budget request for the NIH. NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins testified before the Subcommittee. NCI Director, Dr. Harold Varmus attended with other colleagues from NIH. During the hearing, Dr. Varmus fielded questions from senators on the NCI's investment in pediatric cancer research, the NCI's role in investigating cancer clusters, and progress made in creating new targeted therapies for cancer. Read the written testimony submitted by Dr. Varmus...

• March 4, 2011 - Many Breakthrough Drugs Come from Publicly Funded Research
  
  Public-sector research has had a more immediate effect on improving public health than was previously realized.  A study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that publicly funded research institutions tend to discover drugs that are expected to have a disproportionately important clinical effect.  Read more...

• February 28, 2011 - Varmus Tells NCI Advisory Board to Brace for Budget Cuts
  
  While addressing the NCI National Cancer Advisory Board on February 8, 2011, the institute's director, Harold Varmus, told board members to brace for cuts to NCI programs.  Under this strained budget environment, Varmus indicated that his top priorities will be to sustain the same number of new grant awards in FY2011 as was awarded in each of the past two years, to ensure cancer genomics programs are supported, and to pay for the ongoing improvements to the clinical trials program.  Read more...

• December 23, 2010 - NCI: Consolidation of Cooperative Group Program Is Designed to Bring Enhanced Efficiencies
  
  In a major transformation, NCI intends to consolidate the nine groups that currently conduct trials in adult cancer patients into four state-of-the-art entities that will design and perform improved trials of cancer therapies. These changes are designed to provide greater benefits for cancer patients and more information for researchers. These moves come in response to an NCI-requested April 2010 report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), which called for a series of changes to the cooperative groups program, including restructuring. For more information:
  • Read the press release
  • View the website
  • Send a comment
  • View the PowerPoint presentation
  • Listen to the teleconference

• December 2, 2010 - Paper on New Cancer Drugs Increasing Life Expectancy Wins Award
  
  A study by Frank R. Lichtenberg, PhD, of Columbia Business School, showing that new cancer drugs (approved from 1968 to 2004) increased the life expectancy of American cancer patients by almost one year, won the 2010 Garfield Economic Impact Award from Research!America. The study also showed that the cost of this additional year is less than $7,000 per patient, much lower than previous estimates of the approximately $150,000 Americans are willing to pay for an additional year of life. Read more… or View selected papers from Dr. Lichtenberg…

A Digest of All Federal Cancer News - NCI Nealon Digest

The NCI Nealon Digest, published by NCI's Office of Advocacy Relations every other Wednesday, provides a compilation of all Federal cancer-related news from the last two weeks.

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Legislation and Testimony

Congressional resources to keep the cancer research community abreast of legislative activities