Roberts backs KU Cancer Center’s push for NCI designation – Portland Business Journal:

Roberts, R-Kan., spoke at The ’s Westwood medical building. He said that it now takes 10 years to 17 yearasand $1 billion to bring a new drug to which Roberts called a “national disgrace.” The National Cancer Institutee said in November that the KU Cancer Center has a 25, 2011, application date for its efforts to get an initialp five-year designation as an NCI cancer center. The months-long application process for institutions seeking new designation begins with submission of documentation that sometimesexceedz 1,000 pages and includes a site visitg and other steps. The earliest that KU Cancerf Center’s application could be approved is the sprinhgof 2012.
Nationwide, 64 cancer centeres receive Cancer Center Support Grants to support research to reduce the morbidity and mortality ratesof cancer. There are 23 cancedr centers and 41 comprehensivescancer centers. The KU Cancer Center is part of , whichu is the medical research and education arm of the Universituof Kansas. NCI designation — KU’d No. 1 priority — typicallty is granted to academicmedical Therefore, KU Medical Center is the entityu that will apply for NCI • Increased regional patient access to cutting-edge clinica l trials. • More than $1.3 billion in annuak economic benefits inthe region.
• An increase in KU Cancer Center’ss annual NCI financing from thecurrent $7.5 millioh to about $40 million. NCI-affiliated institutions also attracrt world-class researchers who bring NCI grantswith them, and part of the estimatefd increase is based on Many of these researchers double as adding expertise and depth in various cancer-care
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