BM--Never, ever underestimate Bill Clinton. He is a spin genius.>>>
Clinton budget offers salvo in war on
cancer
5.09 p.m. ET (2206 GMT) January 29, 1998
- Saying scientists are "right on the verge'' of a
breakthrough in cancer research, Vice President Al Gore said
Thursday the administration wants to increase federal funding by 65
percent over the next five years.
The budget plan, which must be approved by Congress, would also
allow Medicare patients access to clinical trials for the first time.
"We want to be the first generation that finally wins the war against
cancer,'' Gore said Thursday. "For the first time, the enemy is
outmatched.''
Later, Gore flew to California's Silicon Valley to announce plans to
extend a corporate research and development tax credit.
In his budget, President Clinton is proposing considerably more
money for all federal research at the National Institutes of Health,
but cancer research would get the biggest boost.
Clinton is counting on revenue from a nationaltobacco settlement to
fund the plan, despite its shaky prospects on Capitol Hill. Still, his
call for more biomedical research funding should be welcomed in
Congress, where members usually propose spending more than the
president requests.
"We are united in our effort to get the resources into the hands of
the researchers,'' Sen. Connie Mack, R-Fla., said Thursday. But he
cautioned that it's not a sure thing. "Where are we going to find this
money?'' he asked.
Last year, Clinton proposed only a 2.6 percent increase in funding
for NIH. But for next year he is asking Congress for $1.15 billion
more for NIH, an 8 percent jump, including 10 percent more for
cancer research. Over five years, Clinton wants a 50 percent
increase overall, including a 65 percent jump for cancer research to
$4.8 billion.
In singling out cancer research for more money, Gore noted that
cancer touches nearly every family, afflicting 40 percent of
Americans and killing half of them. Advances in research, he said,
hold promise for better prevention, detection, treatment and,
ultimately, a cure.
"We're right on the verge of a whole new phase in this war,'' he
said.
So far, most of the research has focused on understanding cancer
and its genetic links, said Dr. Joseph Pagano, founder of the
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of
North Carolina. Now, he said, researchers are ready to apply that
knowledge to treatments for actual patients.
"In the next decade we're going to be actually putting it to the test,''
Pagano said.
At the same time, administration officials said, the long-term budget
plan should allow researchers to plan for the future while giving
frustrated young scientists hope that money will be there. Health
and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala said the new money
should allow NIH to fund about one-third of the approved research
applications it receives.
The administration is also proposing $750 million to allow Medicare
patients to participate in clinical cancer trials for the first time. Like
many other health insurance plans, Medicare will not pay for
treatments unless they are established treatments.
A three-year demonstration project will determine how much it
actually costs to participate in a trial and will develop guidelines for
what constitutes a "high-quality'' experiment, said Richard Klausner,
director of the National Cancer Institute. The data could then be
used to persuade private insurers to cover clinical trials for their
patients.
There should be enough money to pay for all Medicare patients
who qualify for cancer trials and want to participate in the project,
he said. |
