X-Message-Number: 18673 Subject: SF Gate: Feinstein calls for U.S. to cure cancer/She says it's possible with $14 billion, more research -- plan has bipartisan support From: "Peter Christiansen" <> Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 15:54 -0800 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/02/28/MN217840.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, February 28, 2002 (SF Chronicle) Feinstein calls for U.S. to cure cancer/She says it's possible with $14 billion, more research -- plan has bipartisan support Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau Washington -- California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and a bipartisan group of Senate supporters outlined a $14 billion proposal yesterday that she said could "wipe cancer off the face of the Earth." Feinstein's five-year plan is intended to take advantage of biomedical research advances to make treatment available for all 1.3 million cancer cases diagnosed annually in the country. About 550,000 Americans die each year from cancer's many forms, more than 30 years after passage of the National Cancer Act of 1971, which was prompted by President Richard Nixon's declaration of a "war on cancer." The legislation proposed by Feinstein and her colleagues would increase grants for cancer research, encourage more young biomedical researchers to work on cancer treatments, speed clinical trials of new treatments and give every patient a "cancer quarterback," a doctor who would manage care. Her plan also would expand tax and marketing incentives for companies that produce so-called orphan drugs, like Gleevec, which has produced impressive results in clinical trials of people with chronic myeloid leukemia. The problem is that such lifesaving drugs for patients afflicted with less common forms of cancer can be money losers because of steep development costs. Feinstein's plan also weighs in on a recurring Washington political fight by giving the Food and Drug Administration power to regulate the content and marketing of tobacco products. A previous effort under President Bill Clinton failed, but other members of Congress have also reintroduced similar legislation. As with most issues in Washington, the future scope of the government's war against cancer will depend on money. "I believe cancer will be eradicated in this century," said John Seffrin, chief executive of the American Cancer Society. "But how soon depends on the public sector." President Bush's new budget proposes a $500 million increase to the $4.7 billion annual budget of the National Cancer Institute. Feinstein wants to add $1.4 billion in her plan's first year. She said yesterday that funds would come from Bush's planned budget and from a nickel-a- pack federal cigarette tax increase that took effect Jan. 1. The new levy is expected to yield about $800 million a year. But there is strong competition for the money, and Congress' tortuous budget-making and appropriations process could leave parts of Feinstein's plan without money. "I'm optimistic, but we're at the beginning of the process," she said. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., one of the bill's 16 Senate co- sponsors, acknowledged that other needs could slice money from the cancer plan, particularly the war against international terrorism and efforts to recover from recession. "We know this is going to cost money, and we're well aware that our budget situation is rather challenging," she said. "But there isn't a more important domestic need." Feinstein, whose past cancer-fighting efforts included creating a special breast cancer postage stamp to raise money to combat that disease, said her talks with cancer researchers convinced her that a new push could produce major results. The National Cancer Institute finances 28 percent of the 16,000 qualified grant proposals it receives each year. By injecting $600 million into the grants process in the proposed law's first year, that figure could be raised to 40 percent -- and could produce new treatments. Feinstein also said young researchers flee the cancer field because of low pay and high debts left from medical school loans. Her bill would create a $190.5 million program to annually pay the loans for 100 doctors and 1,000 postdoctoral researchers who would spend three years as cancer researchers. The federally backed researchers, who now get a starting salary of $28,000 a year, would be paid as much as $48,000 annually. Among the Republicans who appeared with Feinstein as she unveiled her proposal was former Sen. Bob Dole, a Kansan who was the GOP's presidential 1996 nominee and is a prostate cancer survivor. Dole, who voted for the Nixon-sponsored 1971 act, said bipartisan support will be needed to get the Feinstein plan through Congress and signed into law by Bush. "Anything that really mattered here, that really lasted, was bipartisan," said Dole, who, since his bout with cancer, has publicly encouraged men to undergo prostate cancer screening. E-mail Edward Epstein at ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 SF Chronicle Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=18673