By Michael A. Caligiuri, MDDirector of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Chief Executive Officer of the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute President Elect, Association of American Cancer Institutes
Newswise — Many people may not realize that the federal government, through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), supports two-thirds of the cancer research in the United States.
Most of this funding is provided as grants through the NIH's National Cancer Institute (NCI). The grants pay for experiments and laboratory overhead, and cover the salaries of investigators and the cost of training the fellows and post-doctoral and doctoral students who will become the next generation of scientists.
Many people may also not realize that Congress cut the NIH budget in 2006 and 2007. The NCI has lost the most: $70 million since 2005.
The effects of these cuts are already being felt. A few years ago, the NCI funded the top 20 percent of the research proposals submitted. In 2005 that proportion dropped to 16 percent. In 2006 and 2007, only about the top 14 and 15 percent of research proposals, respectively, were funded. That figure is expected to fall to 12 percent in 2008.
Furthermore, each research proposal chosen for funding in 2006 and in 2007 received 29 percent and 25 percent fewer dollars, respectively, than requested, forcing investigators to lay off staff, narrow their studies and turn away students.
Fewer research dollars mean fewer advances in treatments, and for someone diagnosed with a deadly cancer, every research minute counts.
Each step in the development of a new therapy " the laboratory research, the animal studies, the clinical trials " are made possible by taxpayer-funded, federal support from the NCI.
Reductions in federal support are also curtailing the ability to train the next generation of cancer researchers. These bright, young men and women " ranging from predoctoral students to investigators in their 30s and 40s " are essential sources of imagination, energy and new ideas.
Today, the average age at which up-and-coming researchers receive their first NIH grant is 41. These grants are essential for building a career. As they become still more difficult to obtain, many eager young investigators are being forced to leave research for more secure careers, their talent, training and enthusiasm wasted.
This is happening now across the country.
The same fate will befall more experienced mid-level researchers, who also depend on federal support.
Federal funding has powered the dramatic advances made by American medical science in the last 50 years. Because of it, the United States leads the world in medical discoveries that have saved millions of lives.
The entire NCI budget was $4.75 billion in 2007, down from $4.82 billion in 2005. In the context of our national debt ($8.5 trillion that year and increasing $1.5 billion daily), this arbitrary cut in cancer research funding of $70 million is insignificant by comparison.
Yet, this year alone, about 1.5 million Americans will learn they have cancer, and more than half a million are expected to die of it " about 10,000 people a week. A strong national research program, backed by a strong NIH, is the only sure path to a cure.
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