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Understanding Cancer SeriesJune 7, 2010, 4:49PM
At the opening presidential session of the 2010 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, NCI Director John E. Niederhuber, M .D., gave an introduction to James H. Doroshow, M.D., director of NCI’s Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis. It was Dr. Niederhuber’s task to present the multiple achievements that Dr. Doroshow has brought to advancing clinical trial reform and development at NCI.
July 28, 2008
With the cutting edge science developments that occur at NCI, things like combination therapies are coming into play. A significant barrier is that when one company owns a particular drug which works better with an experimental drug from another company (or when trying to test the effects of a combination of two drugs, when both drugs are owned by different companies)–issues may arise when having the two groups come together to make an agreement to be able to use them collectively. Other barriers – even though NCI has platforms to try to mend these issues – include intellectual property rights [which define] who has the rights to what type of discovery. These issues depend upon whether a drug has been given to NCI from an outside [organization] to work with or [if we are testing] something that is being licensed from within. These issues can raise legal concerns and can slow things down, hindering forward development.
July 28, 2008
Collaborations, the transfer of technology, and other types of public-private partnerships, are critical to NCI’s mission of fostering the best cancer research and promoting translation of that research from the bench to the bedside. NCI is the primary means of support for cancer research in America, with 3.8 billion dollars spent in 2007 alone on cancer research conducted at institutions across the country, and another one billion spent here at the NCI. NCI’s intramural scientific program, which is housed primarily on its campuses in Frederick and Bethesda, Md. is uniquely positioned to explore innovative diagnostic and treatment development in areas such as orphan drugs or combination therapies – areas where industry and academic sectors often face difficulties due to concerns over marketability, intellectual property, competition and liability. NCI cannot do this research alone, however, particularly because the problems being addressed require special expertise and an approach that crosses many disciplines. Partnerships have become an important component of America’s investment in cancer research.