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Research policy expert: Cancer research should focus on prevention, nondrug treatment
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ECCO 15 – ESMO 34 Multidisciplinary Congress
Not enough focus or money is being directed toward advances in knowledge likely to have the biggest impact on combating cancer in the next few decades, according to a speaker at the ECCO 15 – ESMO 34 Multidisciplinary Congress, held in Berlin.
Studies aiming to improve surgery, pathology and diagnostic and staging imaging, and a radical rethink of the approach to prevention should be the focus of cancer research, both public and federally funded, according to Richard Sullivan, MD, PhD, professor at King’s Health Partners Integrated Cancer Center in London.
Sullivan, who is also chairman of the European Cancer Research Managers Forum, cited data showing that 74% of public funding in Europe and more than 70% of European cancer research initiatives were aimed at fundamental biology and drug development.
“In the United States, the imbalance is even greater,” Sullivan said in a press release. “There is no shortage of cancer drugs coming through the pipeline and the whole area of drug research is quite healthy. What we need is a reapportioning of budgets from the charitable sector and public funders to carve out space for these other areas of cancer research that are largely invisible to a lot of policymakers.”
Sullivan called for cancer researchers to collaborate across uncommon disciplinary boundaries to embrace behavioral engineering, population psychology, evolutionary biology, novel socioeconomic methods and ideas such as cultural transmission theory, which is the study of the learning and transmission of behaviors between generations.
Additionally, the increasing scale of cancer in developing countries presents challenges. Surgery and radiotherapy are important approaches for decreasing the growing global cancer burden; yet, financial support from developing countries remains poor, Sullivan added.
During a press conference, Sullivan also emphasized the significance of societies being engaged in this debate and the development of a global cancer fund to support truly transnational research. He discussed the challenges associated with an aging population and the importance of public understanding of the time it takes for benefits from research to reach society.
“Governments, research charities and European funders should recognize the importance of shifting the focus to a new approach to prevention research and more investment in nondrug treatment research, but it will be largely up to cancer researchers to drive the change,” he said.
For more information:
- Sullivan R. Expert calls for new cancer research priorities to correct imbalance that leaves important questions neglected. Presented at: ECCO 15 and 34th ESMO Multidisciplinary Congress; Sept. 20-24, 2009; Berlin.
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