The economic stimulus measure signed by Obama on February 17 included a huge, two-year infusion of about $10 billion for the National Institutes of Health, which funds research, of which about $1.26 billion is expected to go for cancer research.
"What will be more important is a sustained growth in the national investment in cancer research because we can only do so much with a short-term bolus of money," Dr. Richard Schilsky of the University of Chicago, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, said in a telephone interview.
"If the money goes away, then a lot of projects will have been started but not many will have been completed," he added.
CONNECT THE DOTS TO GENTA AND THE NCI:
Genasense® (oblimersen sodium) Injection has been in clinical trials since 1995 in the U.S., Europe and Australia, with efficacy and safety data from Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials. More than 2,200 patients have entered randomized trials (one-half of whom were controls) and approximately 500 patients have been treated in non-randomized Phase 2 trials sponsored by Genta, through a long-standing Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), or the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC).
Don't think for a second that Genta won't be around long enough to complete the AGENDA Clinical Trial and see it through the NDA process. Genta and the NCI have had an agreement on Genasense since 1995. They're not going to turn their backs on this relationship when the Agenda trial is right at the finish line.
