Cancer Leaders Call for Congress to Act Quickly in 2015 to Reinvigorate Cancer Innovation in the United States
Even before the next Congress is formally elected, a national group of health-care stakeholders called the Cancer Innovation Coalition (CIC) went to Capitol Hill today to call for early legislative and regulatory action in 2015 that will reinvigorate cancer innovation in the United States.
The reason, according to a panel of leading cancer researchers, clinical specialists, and patient advocates, is that important gains in cancer research may have reached a plateau in this country. This plateau comes at a time when cancerous tumors are evolving and becoming resistant to existing treatments and the number of new cancer cases diagnosed yearly in the United States is projected to increase 45% by 2030—to 2.3 million Americans.
Speaking today at a Washington policy briefing hosted by the Cancer Innovation Coalition, the experts said that because the effectiveness of cancer treatments depends primarily on preventing resistance, new studies are needed now to show whether alternative approaches to treatment can improve outcomes. The policy briefing was convened as part of Project Innovation, a new movement spearheaded by the Cancer Innovation Coalition to elevate cancer innovation as a national priority.
“The need to accelerate cancer innovation has never been greater,” said Nancy Davenport-Ennis, Founder of the National Patient Advocate Foundation, which is spearheading the Cancer Innovation Coalition and Project Innovation. “Just as this nation took the lead in finding the cure for polio and turning HIV into a chronic disease, we need policy solutions that will restore the [United States] as a leader in delivering new cancer breakthroughs so many more Americans with cancer will live longer, better lives.”
Cancer Clinical Trials
When it comes to charting the future course of cancer innovation, the experts taking part in the policy briefing called for a reprioritization of funding from the federal government, as well as the private sector, so the United States can regain its competitive edge in cancer research and clinical trials.
Painting a disturbing picture of the outsourcing of cancer research and clinical trials to China and the Far East, John Harrington, a cancer survivor and retired Chief Commercial Officer for Sanofi Global Oncology, said the immediate problem is not a lack of resources, but what he called the nation’s “collective complacency” regarding the continued position of the United States as a world leader in oncology care.
While the United States has adopted a “just good enough” attitude to biomedical discovery, other regions of the world are forging ahead in investing in research and drug discovery. As a consequence, 70% of clinical trials are now conducted outside the United States.
“As a nation we are seeing a lifesaving, health status improving system threatened and fundamentally changed,” Mr. Harrington said. “We would not look for an automobile that had the technology of the 1960’s when we shop today for a new car. We would not look at the operating system of the first computer as the comparator when selecting a new computer. There is no country or industry that can compete for the future without investing in innovation.”
Reductions in Federal Funding
In terms of the immediate impact of outsourcing research to other countries, the nearly 20% drop in government-funded basic research since 2010 is having a chilling effect on the number of cancer patients who can participate in clinical trials. Due to significant budget cuts, the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Clinical Trials Cooperative Group Program will only be able to enroll about 12,000 adult patients in clinical trials over the coming year—a 50% drop from the historical yearly average of 25,000 cancer patients enrolled in NCI-sponsored clinical trials.
Compounding the situation, reductions in federal funding for cancer research are accelerating an already serious shortage of the research workforce at a time when the nation's cadre of highly skilled scientists is aging.
Providing the perspective of a cancer researcher, Edith P. Mitchell, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine and Medical Oncology with the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University, said now is the time when strengthening the capabilities of future generations of clinicians, leaders, and scientists is critical because the opportunity to develop new cancer breakthroughs has never been more promising.
“This is an extraordinary time in oncology, one in which we continuously develop new research ideas propelling new knowledge and technology to empower us to deliver the best treatments and therapeutic outcomes for our patients,” Dr. Mitchell said. “There has never been more potential opportunity and a greater need to collaborate and enhance research to achieve the goal of conquering cancer.”
Policy Agenda Planned for Early 2015
Based on the issues raised at this policy forum and other meetings being held across the country, the Cancer Innovation Coalition will develop a national policy agenda with specific recommendations for Congress and federal and state governments to accelerate the delivery of promising new treatments to patients. Plans call for announcing this cancer innovation policy agenda in early 2015.
"Our goal is simple and straightforward," said Ms. Davenport-Ennis. "We plan to submit a cancer innovation blueprint to Congress and the Administration that advances specific policy solutions that will move cancer discovery forward in the [United States]."
Primary funding for Project Innovation comes from National Patient Advocate Foundation with additional support through educational grants from Celgene Corporation, Eli Lilly, Novartis, and Pfizer.
Members of the Cancer Innovation Coalition are: Amgen, American Association for Cancer Research, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Association of Community Cancer Centers, Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cancer Support Community, Celgene Corporation, Colon Cancer Alliance, Community Oncology Alliance, Council for Affordable Health Care, CureSearch, Cutaneous Lymphoma Foundation, Fight Colorectal Cancer, Friends of Cancer Research, Eli Lilly & Company, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, National Patient Advocate Foundation, Novartis, Oncology Nursing Society, Personalized Medicine Coalition, Pfizer, Prevent Cancer Foundation, and US Oncology Network.
More information about Project Innovation is available at www.projectinnovation.org.
The content in this post has not been reviewed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO®) and does not necessarily reflect the ideas and opinions of ASCO®.
