Cancer Research Pays Off with Dozens of Advances

Six major developments and 26 other advances across 10 cancer types

FRIDAY, Dec. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Investment in cancer research is paying off with more than 30 recent advances across 10 different cancer types, according to the report Clinical Cancer Advances 2006: Major Research Advances in Cancer Treatment, Prevention and Screening, published Dec. 8 by the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

The report highlights six major advances: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of the first human papillomavirus vaccine; improved lung cancer prognosis with genetic testing; new treatments for kidney cancer for the first time in 20 years; improved treatment for advanced breast cancer; a new drug for leukemia patients resistant to imatinib; and the first new head-and-neck cancer treatment in 45 years.

The report also recommends that funding for cancer research be increased by at least 5 percent to keep up the pace of progress and also urges improved access to biospecimens.

"There is much good news from the front lines of cancer research," comments Robert F. Ozols, M.D., Ph.D., of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, who served as one of the report's executive editors. "This report demonstrates the critical role of clinical cancer research in the health of Americans, and the importance of addressing some serious obstacles that could slow the pace of discovery," he said in a statement.

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