Friday, March 27, 2009

21st Century Cancer ALERT (Access to Life-Saving Early detection, Research and Treatment) Act

From the OCNA e-mail I received:
"Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) introduced the bipartisan 21st Century Cancer Access to Life-Saving Early Detection, Research, and Treatment (ALERT) Act today, which aims to expand and accelerate research to help find effective treatments and better preventive measures for cancer patients. The 21st Century Cancer ALERT Act is a wide-ranging cancer bill addressing issues from research to workforce shortages to coordination of care.

The 82-page bill offers solutions to many issues that are vital to the ovarian cancer community including the importance of early detection tests, development of biomarker tests, access to cancer care for underserved populations and expansion of access to clinical trials.

The 21st Century Cancer ALERT Act calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to promote funding opportunities and establish a separate review panel for grants related to high mortality cancers. The bill also addresses the need for government agencies to coordinate efforts to fight these cancers. Specifically, the bill requires reporting on cancers whose five year survival rate is less than 50 percent and cancers whose incidence is less than 40,000 people per year."

Click here for the complete press release.


The Bill's number is S-717 and has been
referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. If your Senator sits on this committee contact him/her about the importance of this bill. I hope they move this bill out of committee quickly to a full Senate vote. I will post a link to the complete text of the bill when it becomes available online.

Since OC does not have a screening test or reliable biomarker passage of this bill is crucial in helping us find a cure!

Livestrong

Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!

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