[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 74 (Thursday, May 26, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E959]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           RECOGNIZING MAY AS NATIONAL CANCER RESEARCH MONTH

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                           HON. BRIAN HIGGINS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 26, 2011

  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support for May as 
National Cancer Research Month. Cancer research is a vital part of our 
Nation's biomedical research enterprise, and this research both 
improves the quality of life of our Nation's citizens and generates new 
economic investment. Cancer research is vital to the community I serve 
in western New York, home to our country's first comprehensive cancer 
center, Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
  The classic view of innovation is that government funds basic science 
while industry comes up with new and innovative products based on that 
science. To make this model work best, it requires a sustained 
commitment to cancer research at the National Institutes of Health and 
National Cancer Institute. When federal cancer research funding is cut 
or not sustained over the long term, we lose promising cancer research 
and talented cancer researchers. After doubling funding between the 
years 1998 and 2003, research funding has flat-lined, and it has 
decreased substantially if you take into account medical inflation.
  By and large, our country's investment in innovation in biomedical 
research has worked well. Over the past 40 years, 153 new FDA approved 
drugs and vaccines have been discovered through research carried out at 
public institutions with federal funds. In the last 20 years alone, one 
out of every five important medical advances approved by the Food and 
Drug Administration was invented in a federally funded laboratory. 
Those inventions, which included 40 new drugs for cancer, are currently 
generating more than $100 billion a year in sales for drug and 
biotechnology firms.
  The only failure in research is when you quit or are forced to quit 
due to lack of funding. National Cancer Research Month provides us a 
reminder of those risks, and also the immense reward that arrives when 
promising research alleviates the suffering of cancer patients.

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