Through the strong voice of its members, ASCO is working to bolster policymaker support for federal funding for biomedical research and draw attention to progress made in cancer research over the past 4 decades. A major priority of ASCO over the next few years is to increase public funding for clinical cancer trials.

"Federal investment in cancer research results in new, innovative, and personalized treatment, leading to longer, more productive lives for cancer patients," said ASCO President George W. Sledge, Jr, MD. "Scientific opportunities for making continued progress are at their highest. Now is the time to push forward, not scale back."

ASCO members, through the ACT Network, began building and nurturing relationships with members of Congress when the 112th U.S. Congress took office in January. At the same time, ASCO and more than 270 medical research organizations, in a letter to Congress, warned that reductions in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will "squander invaluable scientific progress to the detriment of our nation's health, our fragile economy, and our global competitiveness."

Allies and Activities

One key booster of the nation's fight against cancer is President Obama, who in his 2012 budget proposal asked for a $1 billion increase for cancer research. ASCO is calling for doubling NCI funding for Cooperative Clinical Research from $250 million to $500 million by 2015.

To help emphasize the importance of cancer research, ASCO joined with One Voice Against Cancer to highlight the critical need for investments in clinical cancer research, including an NIH appropriation of $35 billion for FY 2012, which would provide the NCI with $5.74 billion, and the FDA with $2.85 billion to ensure timely approval of safe and effective therapies.

In another action to support clinical cancer research, ASCO, with the Institute of Medicine, convened research stakeholders for a daylong meeting to examine efforts to improve the publicly funded cancer clinical trials system.

Federally funded cancer research has led to virtually every major advance in the field over the past 40 years. A new ASCO timeline that highlights progress against common cancers is now available at www.cancer.net/progresstimeline. ■

© 2011. American Society of Clinical Oncology. All rights reserved.