Improving The Outlook For People With Cancer (NAPSA)—Advances in science and medicine have transformed the treatment of cancer. A recent report in the journal Cancer shows that cancer death rates are dropping faster than Cancer SurvivalRatesIncreasing 70 ever—an average of 2.1 percent a year from 2002 to 2004, nearly double the rate from the previous decade. Doctors say that this change translates into approximately 10,000 morelives saved each year. “This demonstrates what many of us in the cancer community have known for some time—the long-term federal investment in cancer research is payingoff,” said Nancy E. Davidson, M.D., presi- dent of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). “But this impressive pace of progress will slow if we don’t recommit to funding cancer research. Adjusted for inflation, cancer research funding has actually declined 12 percent since 2004.” New Advances A new ASCO report of the biggest cancer advances in 2007 highlights clear examples of progress against cancer: Targeted Therapies— Liver cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death globally. In the first advanceofits kind in decades, patients who took a targeted drug called sorafenib (Nexavar) lived about 44 percent longer than patients who did not. In an advance against kidney cancer, a drug that starves tumors of the blood supply they need to grow nearly doubled survival time before the cancer spread. Prevention and Screening— * MRIs were found to be Source: NCI 19751977 19841986 19962003 Cancer survival has risen as federal investmentin cancer research has increased, but cuts to funding in recent years threaten future progress. more effective than mammograms at finding breast cancer in women at high risk for the disease (but, doctors note, not in all women). * Declining use of hormone replacement therapy was linked to recent declines in breast cancer incidence. HPV infection appears to be linked to head and neck cancers, suggesting a possible new role for the HPV vaccine. Radiation therapy to the head can prevent the spread of advanced lung cancer to the brain. To learn more about progress against cancer and the need for additional cancer research funding, please visit www.asco.org/ researchfunding.
