Roberts backs KU Cancer Center's push for NCI designation - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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Roberts, R-Kan., spoke at The ’s Westwood medical building. He said that it now takese 10 years to 17 yearsand $1 billion to bringy a new drug to which Roberts called a “national disgrace.” The National Cancer Institute said in Novembef that the KU Cancer Center has a Sept. 25, 2011, application date for its effortzs to get aninitial five-year designatiomn as an NCI cancetr center. The months-long application process for institutions seekinfg new designations begins with submission of documentation that sometimeesexceeds 1,000 pages and includes a site visit and other steps. The earliest that KU Cancerr Center’s application could be approved is the sprinhof 2012.
Nationwide, 64 cancer centers receive Cance r Center Support Grants to supportr research to reducethe incidence, morbidityu and mortality rates of cancer. There are 23 cancerr centers and 41 comprehensivecancer centers. The KU Cancer Center is part of , whicu is the medical research and education arm of the Universitof Kansas. NCI designation — KU’xs No. 1 priority — typically is granted to academidmedical centers. Therefore, KU Medica l Center is the entity that will applhy forNCI designation. • Increased regionap patient accessto cutting-edge clinicap trials. • More than $1.3 billion in annual economix benefits inthe region.
• An increase in KU Cancert Center’s annual NCI financing from thecurreny $7.5 million to about $40 NCI-affiliated institutions also attract world-class researcheres who bring NCI grants with them, and part of the estimatecd increase is based on that. Many of these researchers doublas clinicians, adding expertise and depthg in various cancer-care sub-specialties.