Roberts backs KU Cancer Center's push for NCI designation - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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Roberts, R-Kan., spoke at The ’s Westwood medical He said that it now takes 10 yearas to 17 yearsand $1 billion to bring a new drug to which Roberts called a “nationalp disgrace.” The National Cancert Institute said in November that the KU Cancer Center has a 25, 2011, application date for its efforts to get an initial five-year designation as an NCI cancerf center. The months-long application process for institutions seekinf new designations begins with submission of documentation that sometimesexceedsd 1,000 pages and includes a site visit and othere steps. The earliest that KU Cancer Center’s applicatio could be approved is the sprintgof 2012.
Nationwide, 64 cancer centersa receive Cancer Center Support Grants to supportg research to reducethe incidence, morbiditty and mortality rates of There are 23 cancer centers and 41 comprehensiv cancer centers. The KU Cancer Centert is part of , whicy is the medical research and educatiob arm of the Universityof Kansas. NCI designationm — KU’s No. 1 priority — typicallty is granted to academimedical centers. Therefore, KU Medical Center is the entity that will applhy forNCI designation. • Increasee regional patient accessto cutting-edgwe clinical trials. • More than $1.
3 billio in annual economic benefits inthe • An increase in KU Cancer Center’z annual NCI financing from the curren t $7.5 million to about $40 million. NCI-affiliated institutions also attract world-class researchers who bring NCI grantswith them, and part of the estimatexd increase is based on that. Many of these researchers doubleas clinicians, adding expertise and depth in variou cancer-care sub-specialties.