Cancer leader urges renewed war on cancer

A leading cancer expert called on Congress today to renew its commitment to the war on cancer by funding research, fostering collaboration among cancer centers and with industry, and shoring up the ranks of researchers and oncology nurses.

Dr. Edward J. Benz Jr. (left), president of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, told a committee chaired by Senator Edward M. Kennedy that cancer requires a broad focus. Elizabeth Edwards and Lance Armstrong also spoke at the hearing.

"Just as cancer needs to be attacked biologically on a variety of fronts, so does cancer research need to concern itself with all the implications of the disease and its treatment," Benz said. "We will not be able to truly defeat cancer unless we grapple with the entire array of issues associated with the disease."

The National Cancer Institute's efforts are not keeping pace with advances in knowledge and technology made over the past 40 years, he said. He recommended special funding for promising early research and forming partnerships with industry to push basic science findings into new therapies.

He also suggested creating national tissue banks, searching for more biomarkers -- the substances in blood or elsewhere that can be early signs of cancer -- and changing regulations to allow partnerships between academia, nonprofit groups, and private companies.

Young researchers and oncology nurses need to be kept in cancer care and research, by loan repayment and scholarship programs for nurses and more stable funding for early-career scientists.

Funding the National Institutes of Health above recent levels is essential to the war on cancer, Benz said in concluding his testimony.

"Without a renewed commitment to funding, the potential for new treatments, cures, and prevention strategies for cancer will continue to recede," he said.