Lung Cancer Alliance Releases 4th Annual Report Card on L...( Slight Improvements - But Overall...),Health

Slight Improvements - But Overall Failing Grades

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the fourth year in a row, Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) marked the start of Lung Cancer Awareness Month with the release of its "Report Card on Lung Cancer", a national assessment of progress being made in the fight against lung cancer. For 2008, LCA noted slight improvements, but overall, failing grades continued.

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"The good news is that we are finally seeing slight improvements - but make no mistake, the overall grades remain unsatisfactory," said Laurie Fenton Ambrose, LCA President & CEO.

"We must and can do better for all those living with or at risk for lung cancer - a disease that remains the most stigmatized, least funded and ignored of all the leading cancers," she said.

The 2008 Report Card on Lung Cancer grades seven categories to evaluate progress in the efforts made to eradicate this disease. The Report Card noted slight improvements in federal research funding and advances in treatment and diagnostic options, including clinical trials. But overall, funding for public health research and early disease intervention remain anemic and translating new discoveries to patient treatment faces daunting challenges.

"The most significant development was seeing LCA's top priority to increase research funding signed into law in September," continued Fenton-Ambrose. "The Department of Defense has now established a $20 million lung cancer research pipeline and we will work to increase this funding next year".

"In addition," she said, "we are heartened to see encouraging trends toward more personalized clinical trials and vaccines to prevent lung cancer recurrence, along with stepped up research in targeted drug therapies, genetic profiling and biomarkers in blood and sputum.