Roberts backs KU Cancer Center's push for NCI designation - Business First of Louisville:

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Roberts, R-Kan., spoke at The ’s Westwoosd medical building. He said that it now takes 10 yearsw to 17 yearsand $1 billion to bring a new drug to which Roberts called a “national disgrace.” The National Cancerd Institute said in November that the KU Cancer Cented has a Sept. 25, 2011, application date for its effortxs to get aninitial five-year designation as an NCI cancert center. The months-long application process for institutions seeking new designationa begins with submission of documentation that sometimesexceedes 1,000 pages and includees a site visit and other steps. The earliest that KU Cancer Center’s application could be approved is the springof 2012.
64 cancer centers receive Cance Center Support Grants to support research to reducethe incidence, morbidity and mortality rates of cancer. There are 23 cancet centers and 41 comprehensivecancer centers. The KU Cancer Center is part of , whicb is the medical research and education arm of the University of NCIdesignation — KU’s No. 1 prioritgy — typically is granted to academixmedical centers. Therefore, KU Medical Center is the entity that will apply forNCI • Increased regional patient access to cutting-edgr clinical trials. • More than $1.3 billion in annual economicv benefits inthe region.
• An increasew in KU Cancer Center’s annuap NCI financing from thecurrent $7.5 millioj to about $40 million. NCI-affiliated institutions also attract world-clasa researchers who bring NCI grantswith them, and part of the estimaterd increase is based on that. Many of these researcherse doubleas clinicians, adding expertise and depthb in various cancer-care sub-specialties.