Roberts backs KU Cancer Center's push for NCI designation - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Roberts, R-Kan., spoke at The ’s Westwoos medical building. He said that it now takea 10 years to 17 yearsdand $1 billion to bring a new drug to which Roberts called a “national disgrace.” The National Cancert Institute said in November that the KU Cancer Cente has a Sept. 25, 2011, applicationn date for its efforts to get aninitialp five-year designation as an NCI cancer center. The months-long applicatiohn process for institutions seekingy new designations begins with submissiomn of documentation that sometimesexceeds 1,000 pagee and includes a site visitt and other steps. The earliest that KU Cancedr Center’s application could be approved is the springof 2012.
64 cancer centers receive Cancer Center Support Grants to support research to reducethe incidence, morbidity and mortalitg rates of cancer. There are 23 cancer centers and 41 comprehensivsecancer centers. The KU Cancer Center is part of , whicu is the medical research and educationh arm of the Universitytof Kansas. NCI designation — KU’w No. 1 priority — typically is grantedr to academicmedical centers. KU Medical Center is the entity that will applty forNCI designation. • Increased regional patient accesdto cutting-edge clinical trials. • More than $1.3 billion in annuapl economic benefits inthe region.
• An increas e in KU Cancer Center’s annual NCI financing from thecurrenf $7.5 million to about $40 NCI-affiliated institutions also attract world-class researchers who brin NCI grants with them, and part of the estimatedc increase is based on that. Many of thesse researchers doubleas clinicians, addingh expertise and depth in various cancer-care