Donate
Why donate? FOLIGO CEO, Dr. Mona Jhaveri, responds to the Editor of the New York Times.
Sent To: The Editor of the New York Times
RE: Response to Article on June 28, 2009: "Grant System Leads Cancer Researches to Play it Safe"
One of the main areas neglected in discussion of the war against cancer is the manner in which cancer research and its translation into product development is conducted. At present, most public monies are channeled through the NIH and NCI. These agencies in turn fund basic research conducted at reputable universities.
As a post doctoral cancer researcher at the NIH and then Georgetown University, I participated in exciting basic research into aspects of cancer. Subsequently at the Ludwig Institute in New York, I was able to work on how intellectual property factors into the translation of basic research into product development. With arduous FDA regulatory hurdles to pass, I learned that moving a good/innovative idea into a product that can save people’s lives, has challenges that go beyond the basic research that most cancer funding is devoted to. I learned too that in that gray zone where validating of innovative ideas occurs through proof of principle and preclinical validation stages, money, a whole lot of it at that, is needed.
At present, federal government funding for biotech is limited, as are state sources. In the ‘dot.com days’, when the biotech industry was seen as a premier frontier for venture capitalist returns on investment, VC money, along with angel investor monies (usually more modest and with fewer strings attached) were easier to come by. Today, both of these sources are lacking for early stage innovators; e.g. those not beholden to federal and university laboratories. These small biotech companies are currently in a major cash crunch. Fewer start-up biotech companies can thus actually start up and sustain themselves, as most funding must now come out of founders' pockets. With the meager, highly competitive federal grants programs described in this article, along with some state funding, the financial wherewithal for this strategic industry segment in the war on cancer is, in my opinion, seriously underappreciated in this article.
Recently, Senator Arlen Specter [NOTE: this was written prior to Sen. Spector’s election defeat] introduced legislation that seeks to bridge the chasm between a basic scientific discovery and a new health treatment. The Cures Acceleration Network (CAN) Act he proposed would create an independent agency dedicated to advancing science from the laboratory into practice. Senator Specter says (see his website) that this is in response to the fact that many biomedical discoveries with the potential for development never advance beyond publication in scientific journals. Researchers have coined the term “the valley of death” to describe why promising discoveries, such as genes linked to cancer that are fundamental in the development of personalized medical treatments, languish in the laboratory. The CAN Act, according to Senator Specter, seeks to release this untapped scientific knowledge.
Then on June 22nd 2009, in the Washington Business Journal, it was reported by Vandana Sinha that Senator Ben Cardin was “livid” when he learned that small businesses weren’t expressly included in the gargantuan $700 Billion+ stimulus bill (the Recovery Act), and that small biotech businesses would in effect be competing with 23,000 applications received by the NIH for two of three stimulus-funded grant routes, where only several hundred awards would be made. It was noted by biotech representatives in the article, that with some universities putting in 500 solicitations for the small number of grants, small biotechs are vastly outgunned, regardless if they are categorized as ‘for profit’. This is very true.
To his credit, Senator Cardin asked the NIH to set aside $229 million of its $10 billion in stimulus funds for small business grants. The agency wrote Cardin back saying small businesses can apply for its current stimulus-generated grants. The appeal to set aside specific funds was rejected. While unfortunate, this is reality at present. Small business, unlike major financial institutions, is simply not getting any breaks in the aftermath of the recession and stimulus funding.
To sum up:
- While overall funding for cancer research may be lacking, the specific niche occupied by biotech companies who take the basic research produced via NIH grants, and then add value by moving the results through the product development phase approved by the FDA, is thoroughly underappreciated in current discussions about the "war on cancer".
- In the current environment, angel investors and venture capitalist funds are very much staying on the sidelines for support of EARLY STAGE, Innovative translational work generated primarily through small biotech companies. This gap needs filling. Without it, pipelines will be prematurely drying.
- There are, arguably, hundreds of innovative ideas already produced through NIH/NCI funding. Current mechanisms don't move these innovative early stage ideas from federal labs and universities to commercial pathways. Hopefully Senator Specter's program will address this nationally. [Alas, under Sen. Spector at least this did not prove to be the case.]
Small biotech currently is the primary source for value addition of early stage, innovative ideas developed in federal and university labs that "Big Pharma" will not support. For Big Pharma, clinical validation is required. For this, small biotech requires, in turn, millions of dollars for any given project in development.
Until the role of biotech in the war on cancer is appreciated, we will undershoot the promise that basic research provides.
Sincerely,
Support FOLIGO’s collaborative work with the University of Maryland. Make a tax-deductible donation to the University of Maryland Foundation. Ways to Give:
- Donate on-line: www.greatexpectations.umd.edu
- Click on “Make a Gift”
- Click on “On-line Giving Form”
- Enter profile
- Go directly to “Search for a Fund”
- Enter: “Foligo/Bentley Ovarian Cancer Research Project”
- Donate by check:
- Make payable University of Maryland Foundation College Park
- Specify: “Foligo/Bentley Ovarian Cancer Research Project”
- Mail to:
Sandra Huskamp, Director of Operations
Fischell Department of Bioengineering
A James Clark School of Engineering
2330E Jeong H. Kim Building
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland 20742