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Dear Friends: I’d like to dedicate this letter at the beginning of spring 2008 to advocacy. There have been some important announcements recently about possibilities of increased funding for ovarian cancer, and now advocacy becomes more important as ever. More dollars are being and need to be earmarked for ovarian cancer research, and advocacy is required to make this happen. There is a current bill both presented in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives (Ovarian Cancer Biomarkers Research Act) that specifically supports funding blood tests for the early detection of ovarian cancer and to establish and start national clinical trials to determine how well these blood tests work to screen for ovarian cancer and to detect it early. This bill is very important since while many research groups both in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world are working on new blood tests or “biomarkers” for early detection of ovarian cancer, there needs to be a concerted effort to agree on the best blood tests and work together collaboratively and quickly to develop an effective screening test to detect ovarian cancer early.In addition, the 2009 National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget is proposed to remain flat and now is the time to contact your U.S. Congressman and Senators to urge that the funding is increased; some research groups, including the American Society for Clinical Oncology (www.asco.org), have called for up to 6.6% increase. Since another important place for drug development and discovery is the pharmaceutical industry, it is imperative to motivate companies to place more emphasis on ovarian cancer drug development. Although ovarian cancer is known as the silent cancer, we know that advocates for ovarian cancer can’t be silenced anymore, and we all need to advocate loudly for more funding. Advocacy for ovarian cancer can occur on a number of fronts – all the way from lobbying members of Congress to support the Ovarian Cancer Biomarkers Research Act to directly contacting pharmaceutical companies to increase their research portfolio and turn to ovarian cancer research and new drug development. In addition, it is important, since our elected officials control budget appropriations, to be vocal about making certain that the NIH and National Cancer Institute funding is increased and that monies are specifically earmarked for ovarian cancer research. Have a good spring and until next month, Sincerely, Ursula Matulonis, M.D. Click here to view archives of Doctor's Corner
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