>■ T he P ortland O bserver » J une 21, 1995
P age B5
CANCER GETS INCREASED
ATTENTION FROM RESEARCHERS
in J ohn F. B eaky ,
III, M.D.
U.S. research-based pharmaceu­
tical companies are intensifying their
efforts to combat can cer-th e sec­
ond-leading killer o f Americans.
The number o f medicines in
development for 20 types o f cancer
has increased from 124 in 1993 to
2 15 today. The number o f compa­
nies developing these pharmaceuti­
cals has doubled-ffom 49 to 98
Medicines in development in­
clude 48 for breast cancer, 37 for
lung cancer, 31 for skin cancer, 30
for colon cancer, 26 for leukemia, 26
for lymphoma, 25 for prostate can­
cer, 24 for solid tumors, 23 for ova­
rian cancer, 14 for brain cancer and
10 for pancreatic cancer.
A new PhRMA publication,
"New medicines in Development for
Cancer,” lists all o f the 215 new
Cancer medicines, and identifies the
companies developing them. It also
shows if drugs are still being tested,
or it they are undergoing final Food
and Drug Administration approval
reviews. This free survey is a valu­
able resource for physicians and the
patients they treat.
“New medicines in Develop­
ment forCancer" shows that research­
ers are developing new ways to de­
liver medicine directly to tumors,
enabling them to use stronger doses
without harming healthy tissue.
Furse Introduces
Diabetes Bill
Some new anti-cancer drugs are
wrapped in envelopes o f fatty mate­
rial so that healthy body cells are not
exposed to the medicine as it is
delivered to tumors In other in­
stances, proteins in the body that
seek out and destroy harmful sub­
stances are used to deliver medi­
cine. Researchers, using sophisti­
cated new biotechnology methods,
are even working on ways to con­
vert cancer cells into normal body
tissue.
The battle against cancer, o f
course, is far from over The Amer­
ican Cancer Society estimates that
in 1995, more than 1.2 million cases
of cancer will be diagnosed, and
547,000 Americans will die. The
disease costs our society $104 bil­
lion every year.
But can c e r, in m any cases,
no lo n g e r m e a n s a u to m a tic
death. P harm aceu tical a d v a n c ­
es are helping to im prove the
su rv iv al rate.
To get copies o f "New Medi­
cines in Development for Cancer,”
write to the Editor, "Medicines In
D evelopm ent,” Com m unications
Division, 1100 15th Street, NW,
Washington, D.C. 20005. '
Increases research to find acure,
paid for through spending cuts
Rep. Elizabeth Furse announced
the introduction o f her bill to in­
crease diabetes research to find a
cure by the end o f the decade. While
the Diabetes Research Act calls for a
$315 million increase in funding for
the National Institutes o f Health,
Furse said that finding a cure for this
illness will save taxpayers billions o f
dollars each year in health care costs.
She has also introduced four bills
which cut more than $10 billion in
unneeded spending from a variety of
federal departments to pay for the
increase in research.
“ D iab etes re se a rc h is at a
c ro ssro a d s," Furse said. “ New
evid en ce show s th at a cure, or
dram atic im p ro v em en ts in se lf­
m anagem ent are w ithin our reach.
My bill m akes sure th at we do
ev e ry th in g we can to im prove the
q u ality o f life and low er the tra g ­
ic c o m p lic a tio n s for the 14 m il­
lion A m ericans w ith d ia b e te s.”
Earlier this year, Furse partici­
pated in a national summit where
leading researchers and endocrinol­
ogists issued a White Paper on diabe­
tes research. That report concluded
that immediately increasing research
efforts could yield substantial and
dramatic breakthroughs, including
finding a cure.
Furse’s bill is a long-term strat­
egy to deal with the problem o f dia­
betes in America, which costs our
nation over $100 billion each year
Everyday, thousands o f people go
blind, have extremity amputations,
or develop heart disease as a result of
this illness.
Lee Ducat, Chair o f the National
Diabetes Research Coalition said,
“the Furse bill has the potential to
save millions o f live and billions o f
health care dollars each year.”
“As an insulin dependent dia­
betic, this bill gives me hope that we
can beat this villainous illness in my
lifetime,” added Bill Nash, President
ofthe Juvenile Diabetes Foundation's
Portland chapter
Furse also introduced compan­
ion bills to cut spending in order to
pay for the increase in diabetes re­
search.
“ I believe diabetes research
should be a priority and finding ways
to pay for it means that we can move
faster to working on a cure,” Furse
said.
Furse introduced her bill with
Rep. George Nethercutt(R-WA).
Oregon Priority: Child Abuse Prevention
M ore re so u rc e s for p re v e n t­
ing child ab use is on its w ay to
O re g o n 's c o m m u n itie s.
T he S tate C o m m issio n on
C h ild re n and F am ilies ap p ro v ed
O r e g o n ’s F am ily P re s e rv a tio n
and S u p p o rt S e rv ic e s Plan on
F rid a y , Ju n e 3, 1995, in c lu d in g
the d istrib u tio n o v er the next tw o
y ears o f $ 3 .6 m illion.
T he plan re p re se n ts the e f ­
forts o f th o u sands o f O reg o n ian s,
b u ild in g on local c o m p re h e n siv e
p lans and in clu d in g input from
fam ilies all o v er O regon.
“A sh a re d goal -- one o f
O re g o n ’s b en ch m ark s -- is d e ­
creasin g the num ber o f ch ildren
ab u sed or n eg lected . E very c o m ­
m unity has d ev elo p ed stra te g ie s
to m eet that goal; these d o lla rs
w ill h elp fund those stra te g ie s ,”
Planning For School
Health Continues
Oregon Department of Human
Resources has received a $IOO,(MX)
grant from the Robert Wood John­
son Foundation to support further
planning efforts for school based
health centers in the state, officials at
Health Division announced. The
award assures Oregon’ s ongoing par­
ticipation in the Foundation’s “M ark­
ing the Grade: State and Local part­
nerships to Establish School-Based
Health Centers” program for next
year.
This second phase of activities
will focus on stabilizing funding,
improving service deli very, and qual­
ity assurance, according to Bob
Nystrom, grant coordinator. An ini­
tial Foundation grant was received in
1993 for the purpose of planning and
expanding the number and scope of
school based health centers in O r­
egon. From that grant, potential dem­
onstration sites in Jackson County,
and Umatilla County were selected.
This continuation grant will allow
for on-site assistance to the three
counties in developing local work
plans. It also provides for a health
care financial analyst to work at both
state and local levels in developing
financial strategies.
“Oregon is a leader when it
comes to school based health cen-
ters,” said Dr. Grant Higginson, act­
ing state health officer and project
director. "This grant assures funding
for continued planning and contin­
ued support from the national mak­
ing the Grade initiative. We will use
this opportunity to help position O r­
egon as a serious competitor for fu­
ture Implementation Phase funding
from the Foundation.”
During 1994, 25 school based
health centers in high schools and
middle schools across the state were
used by over 10,000 students, repre­
senting more than 40,000 individual
visits for services. School based
health centers are an important strat­
egy for achieving Oregon Bench­
marks focused on improving access
to health care, reducing teen preg­
nancy, eliminating illicit drug use,
and keeping children in school. They
provide general medical, mental and
reproductive health services to stu­
dents, and promote healthy behav­
iors through prevention and educa­
tional efforts.
The R obert W ood Johnson
F o u n d atio n is the n a tio n ’s la rg ­
est health care p h ila n th ro p y , e s ­
tab lish ed as a n atio n al fo u n d a ­
tion in 1972. It ranks am ong the
seven larg est fo u n d atio n s in the
U nited States.
said D iane W a lto n , E x e c u tiv e
D ire c to r o f the S tate C o m m is­
sio n .
A key c o m p o n e n t o f
O r e g o n ’s fa m ily su p p o rt and
p r e s e r v a tio n s e r v ic e s p la n is
H e a lth y S ta rt, a p ro g ra m d e ­
sig n ed to d e v e lo p a w eb o f su p ­
ports for fam ilies during the c riti­
cal e a rly ch ild h o o d years.
T h e p r o g r a m c o m b in e s
health se rv ic e s, hom e v isitatio n
and fam ily su p port, and paren ts
p a rtic ip a te v o lu n tarily .
T he Fam ily P reserv atio n and
S u p p o rt S e rv ic e s A ct is a federal
p rogram esta b lish e d as part of
the O m nibus B udget R e c o n c ilia ­
tion A ct o f 1993.
T he goal o f this new federal
pro g ram is to pro m o te the e x p a n ­
sion o f fam ily support and fam ily
— ----------------------------- B a n k i n g
on
preserv atio n se rv ic e , and stim u ­
to include in d iv id u als and group
late system ic reform .
w ho had not had p re v io u s in p t
O re g o n ’s a llo c a tio n over the
on service desig n , in c lu d in g re
next five years is $7.7 m illion. In
c ip ie n ts o f se rv ic e s and tribe
O re g o n , the o p p o r tu n ity has
m em bers.
m erged the federal plan n in g p ro ­
F or fu rth e r in fo rm a tio n , o
c e s s w ith o n g o in g e f f o r t s ,
fo r a copy o f the p lan , contac
through local c o m m issio n s o il J
or S teve N e,so n a
ch ild ren and fa m ilie s, across the **t e S tate C o m m issio n on C hi|
state.
dren and F am ilies in Salem (373
S pecial e ffo rts w ere m ade
1283).
A m e r i c a * _________________________
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