Roberts backs KU Cancer Center's push for NCI designation - San Antonio Business Journal:

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Roberts, R-Kan., spoke at The ’s Westwoods medical building. He said that it now takes 10 yearxs to 17 yearsand $1 billiohn to bring a new drug to market, which Robert s called a “national disgrace.” The National Cancerr Institute said in November that the KU Cancefr Center has a 25, 2011, application date for its efforts to get an initia five-year designation as an NCI cancer The months-long application process for institutions seekinhg new designations begins with submissionn of documentation that sometimes exceeds 1,000 pages and includez a site visit and other steps. The earliest that KU Cance r Center’s application could be approved is the springtof 2012.
Nationwide, 64 cancer centers receive Cancer Center Supportg Grants to support research to reducethe incidence, morbidity and mortality rates of cancer. There are 23 cancer centers and 41 comprehensivwecancer centers. The KU Cancer Center is part of , whichj is the medical research and education arm of the Universitytof Kansas. NCI designation — KU’ss No. 1 priority — typicallty is granted to academicmedical centers. KU Medical Center is the entitu that will apply forNCI designation. • Increased regionaol patient accessto cutting-edgew clinical trials. • More than $1.3 billion in annua economic benefits inthe region.
• An increas in KU Cancer Center’s annual NCI financinb from thecurrent $7.5 millio to about $40 million. NCI-affiliatefd institutions also attract world-class researchers who brin g NCI grantswith them, and part of the estimated increasr is based on that. Many of these researcherz doubleas clinicians, adding expertise and depthu in various cancer-care sub-specialties.