Texas plans 3B cancer study investment
23 January, 2007
No mention of INGN
By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON, Associated Press Writer 6 minutes ago
AUSTIN, Texas - Aiming to become a global leader in cancer research, Texas plans to invest $3 billion over the next decade in a bid to eradicate the disease, which kills more than a half-million Americans every year.
"The disease is just too devastating; it affects every single one of us," said Armstrong, who battled testicular cancer before winning the Tour de France seven consecutive years. "We need to make sure that sometime in our lives we put an end to it."
The project will combine their efforts with research conducted by private companies, state universities, medical schools and the elite University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
"I can‘t think of anything that I think is more worthwhile, anything that will make Texas more the epicenter of an extraordinary focus worldwide in this effort," Perry said. "This is a powerful moment in Texas history."
"What we‘re really talking about is something that can change the world," she said.
Dr. John Mendelsohn, president of the Anderson Cancer Center, said the funding would accelerate research into preventing cancer, detecting it early and treating it in a less toxic way.
Eventually those findings probably could be applied to other diseases, such as Alzheimer‘s disease Alzheimer‘s disease or schizophrenia, he said.
Cancer research has traditionally been funded by the federal government. The National Cancer Institute spent about $4.7 billion on research in the 2006 fiscal year in its own labs and through grants and agreements with universities, hospitals, research foundations and private businesses. |
