NIH Funding Fuels Advances in Cancer Treatment and Therapies
Alfred L. Garfall, MD, emphasizes the critical importance of the National Institutes of Health funding for biomedical research.
Alfred L. Garfall, MD, director of Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, the section chief of Myeloma and Hematology-Oncology, and an associate professor of Medicine (Hematology-Oncology) at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Medicine, in Philadelphia, emphasizes the critical importance of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for biomedical research, noting that nearly all clinical trials and treatment advancements in the US are rooted in NIH-supported work.
He highlights the overwhelming benefits of NIH funding, including better cancer therapies, societal gains, and economic leadership in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
Read more on the potential cuts in federal funding for cancer research and treatment in this 2 part series:
https://www.targetedonc.com/view/cancer-research-at-risk-as-nih-faces-funding-freeze-and-cuts
Transcription:
0:10 | I think we are all trying to figure out what actually is the policy change, or whether there is a policy change, because it is very confusing what is in the news right now. But I think all of us who do biomedical research feel strongly that NIH funding is really essential. And that progress—everything I tell my patients who are not enrolling in clinical trials at the time—is that everything I am telling you about your treatment, everything I am recommending for treatment, is based on clinical trials, and all clinical trials, almost all clinical trials in this country, if they are not directly supported by NIH research, they have as their scientific rationale work that was done with support from the NIH. So, it is really essential that NIH continue to support biomedical research, both in the preclinical and clinical research space.
1:14 | The data on what that generates for our patients in terms of better therapies for cancer is just overwhelming. And the benefit for our society—not just in terms of lives saved and lives extended, but our economy, which is the world leader in terms of pharmaceutical and biotechnology—is ultimately driven by the NIH support for basic biomedical research and clinical research. So, I think it is really important that all of us, given the opportunity, state that loud and clear, and hopefully that will resonate with the folks making decisions in our government.
