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Chasing Away Childhood Cancer

Childhood Cancer Research Gets Much-Needed Raise in Funding

For those of you unaware, The Saint Baldrick’s Foundation, as part of the Alliance for Childhood Cancer, recently “sent a letter to Congress, urging lawmakers to provide more funding for medical research and within those funds, to make pediatric cancer a higher priority.” In total, 91 childhood cancer organizations signed St. Baldrick’s letter to Congress, and today it looks like medical research will be benefiting from a “much-needed raise” in funding! Here’s what Congress is planning to do for a brighter future in childhood cancer research:

  • Provide more money to both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which directly impacts funding for childhood cancer research.
  • “The House Appropriations Committee recommended a $1.1 billion increase for the NIH, for a total of $31.2 billion. The Senate Appropriations Committee was even more generous, recommending a $2 billion increase for the NIH, for a total of $32 billion. The final agreement won’t be reached until this fall, but the preliminary numbers are looking very positive.”
  • Under the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act, which passed last year, the House and Senate will call on NIH “to prioritize research relating to childhood cancer in making funding decisions.”
  •  “The House of Representatives specifically asked the Office of Cancer Survivorship at the NCI to issue a report to Congress next year on how it could better focus resources on childhood cancer.”
  • Having the NCI prioritize pediatric cancer research, which will include “clinical studies for children with brain tumors, and development of the novel pediatric ‘MATCH’ study,as well as the important pediatric pre-clinical testing program evaluating new agents for treating pediatric malignancies.”

This is exciting news and a huge step forward for pediatric cancer! The success of the St. Baldrick’s letter goes to show that when we work together, we can make a truly positive impact for kids fighting cancer!

For detailed information on this topic, click the link here and read the entire article written by Danielle Leach, Director of Government Relations & Advocacy and Kevin Mathis, Sr. Legislative Counsel, St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

http://www.stbaldricks.org/blog/post/a-win-in-washington-for-childhood-cancer-research