Last year 1.5 million Americans were diagnosed with cancer. Every year 560,000 Americans will die from the disease. Over the past five years federal funding has been flat for cancer research. The effect of flat funding has been devastating. The rate of medical inflation far outstrips the rate in the general economy. This means that [...]
To many people’s surprise on Friday the FDA approved Avastan in combination with the chemotherapy drug Paclitaxel for the treatment of breast cancer. Why was this a surprise? The FDA’s advisory committee voted 5 to 4 against approving the drug. In the clinical trial Avastan did not demonstrate a statistically improved survival rate. However, it [...]
The American Cancer Society has released its revised statistical projections for prostate cancer diagnoses and deaths in the United States for the upcoming year of 2008. The projection calls for 186,320 men to be diagnosed and 28,660 to die from the disease. These numbers do not take into account the many men who die from [...]
If you have not yet read yesterday's post please do so before reading this post. Among the most valuable communication tools created as a result of the National Cancer Act of 1971 is the NCI's annual report on The Nation's Investment in Cancer Research, which was released this week. Often referred to as the "bypass [...]
At the National Cancer Advisory Board's (NCAB) February 5 meeting, NCI Director Dr. John Niederhuber briefed committee members on the Institute's operating budget for fiscal year (FY) 2008. The $4.8 billion appropriation is essentially flat compared with FY 2007. Because of the rate of inflation, this will require NCI leaders to initiate 3-percent reductions across [...]
In 1971 the United States declared war on cancer. Although there have been some improvements in treatments and screening the actual death rates for many cancers has not significantly been impacted. Considering the amount of money that has been spent and the amount of years that has passed since we declared war, we have not [...]
Today’s New York Times carried a story written by Reed Abelson entitled “Financial Ties Are Cited as Issue in Spine Study.” The story explained that some of the nation’s most prominent spine surgeons hailed as a medical breakthrough a study of nearly 240 patients with lower back pain. The doctors said that Prodisc, an artificial [...]
The American Cancer Society has undertaken a unique effort to help cancer patients who have lost or are in danger of losing their health care coverage – the Health Insurance Assistance Service (HIAS). Along with the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, The Society is sponsoring a free resource that connects cancer patients with health insurance [...]
Senator Charles Schumer (D.NY) and Representative Jim Marshall (D.GA) have introduced THE THOMAS J. MANTON PROSTATE CANCER EARLY DETECTION AND TREATMENT ACT OF 2007. The original bill had been introduced into the 109th Congress, but died in committee. This bill would amend the Public Health Service Act and title XIX of the Social Security Act [...]
The United States Department of Labor is charged with administering the Family Medical Leave of Absence (FMLA) program in the U.S. This program requires that certain employers provide non-paid leave time to employees under certain circumstances. Leave is required in order to allow an employee to care for a spouse, son, daughter, or parent if [...]
