The American Association for Cancer Research will unveil the AACR Cancer Progress Report 2011 during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The AACR is the world's oldest and largest association dedicated to the acceleration of advances in cancer research for the prevention and cure of cancer.

The AACR Cancer Progress Report 2011, released 40 years after the National Cancer Act was signed into law, comes at a critical time – when decades of fundamental knowledge about cancer have led to incredible scientific and technological breakthroughs. Yet due to the relatively flat funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) since 2003, both the momentum gained and future progress of cancer research are now seriously threatened.

"Today, more than any time in history, cancer researchers are maximizing the impact of the fundamental discoveries made over the past 40 years and are translating them into improved patient care. Sustained funding increases for the NIH and NCI are an urgent national priority that will improve the health of Americans and strengthen America's innovation and economy," said AACR Immediate Past President Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate and Morris Herzstein professor of biology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco.

The AACR Cancer Progress Report 2011 is a call to action for the general public and for lawmakers to intensify their efforts in supporting cancer and biomedical research. Past breakthroughs have resulted in new approaches that are transforming the prevention, detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer and are ushering in a new era of personalized cancer medicine.

At this inflection point in the field it is urgent that scientific momentum be maintained for the benefit of cancer patients and for all those who will be diagnosed with cancer in the future. Cancer and biomedical research also represents an unprecedented return on investment that can be measured not only in countless lives saved and a higher quality of life for cancer patients and survivors, but also in overall public health and economic benefit to our country.

For example, it is important to recall that the $3.8 billion in federal funds invested in the Human Genome Project from 1988 to 2003 helped drive $796 billion in economic impact and generated $244 billion in total personal income according to a 2011 report by Battelle; and many more opportunities to address the devastating consequences of cancer on our population while helping to create jobs are possible going forward.

The AACR Cancer Progress Report 2011 urges Congress to provide the NIH and NCI with sustained budget increases of at least 5 percent above the biomedical inflation rate. This level of support will ensure the future scientific advances needed to capitalize on past research investments, spur innovation, and make a difference in the lives of people worldwide.

"At this defining moment in cancer research, we hope that the AACR's landmark Cancer Progress Report 2011 will help everyone to recognize the tremendous progress that has been made in our understanding of cancer and the enormous opportunities that now exist to stem the tide of this disease, which is diagnosed in one out of two men, and one out of three women in their lifetimes. The value of cancer research and biomedical research to the economic health and well-being of this nation cannot be overestimated," said AACR President Judy E. Garber, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Center for Cancer Genetics and Prevention at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Source:  AACR