[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 141 (Monday, September 8, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8120-S8121]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HEMATOLOGY

 Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to 
congratulate the American Society of Hematology, which is observing its 
50th anniversary this year, and to salute the advances hematologists 
have been able to make

[[Page S8121]]

in biomedical research, largely as a result of the funding for the 
National Institutes of Health that many of us in the Senate fight for 
each year.
  The American Society of Hematologists--ASH--represents more than 
15,000 clinicians and scientists committed to the study and treatment 
of blood and blood-related diseases, including blood cancers, bleeding 
and clotting diseases, and hereditary disorders. Hematologists have 
made remarkable contributions to the advancement of biomedical research 
and are active participants in NIH biomedical research programs, 
recipients of NIH grants, and contributors to NIH's biomedical research 
accomplishments. I am pleased to note that some of this groundbreaking 
research is being conducted in Iowa by ASH member Dr. George Weiner and 
his team at the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of 
Iowa.
  Hematologists have been at the forefront of some of the most 
remarkable advancements in medicine over the past half century. ASH 
members have turned Federal research dollars into effective treatments 
for diseases that were once disabling or a death sentence, and have 
been pioneers in the fields of bone marrow transplantation and gene 
therapy.
  By the NIH's own estimates, the overall 5-year survival rate for 
childhood cancers rose to nearly 80 percent during the 1990s from under 
60 percent in the 1970s. A diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia 
was fatal for every child who developed it in the 1960s, but today, 
after new combinations of drugs were developed by hematology 
researchers, and aggressive treatment of the brain and spinal fluid 
were incorporated, approximately 80 percent of children with the 
disease are cured.
  NIH also notes that the emergence of new, more precise ways to treat 
cancer, such as drugs that target abnormal proteins in cancer cells, 
have contributed to a dramatic increase in the average life expectancy 
for Americans. Again, hematologists have been at the forefront of these 
discoveries.
  Acute promyelocytic leukemia--APL--was once described as the most 
malignant form of acute leukemia. Today, the treatment of APL has 
become a model for treating cancer with targeted therapy. In 
combination with chemotherapy, targeted treatment has significantly 
improved survival in patients with APL and raised remission rates to 
about 85 percent.
  In the 1950s the only treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia--
CML--was radiation of the spleen, granting patients about 30 months of 
survival. Analysis of the CML-specific chromosomal translocation 
allowed the development of imatinib, a gene-targeting drug that is the 
paradigm for a new generation of ``smart'' drugs that allow disease-
specific therapy. Using this non toxic oral drug, more than 75 percent 
of patients diagnosed with CML achieve a durable, complete cytogenetic 
remission.
  I have consistently fought for increases to NIH annual budget, and 
will continue to due so to ensure that hematologists and researchers 
around the Nation continue to have the resources necessary to lead in 
new fields of biomedical investigation and translate new scientific 
discoveries into improved diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive 
strategies.
  Again, I salute the American Society of Hematology for a magnificent 
first 50 years. With continued NIH funding, I am confident that 
hematologists will have even greater successes in treating and 
eliminating blood diseases over the next 50 years.

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