The final bill includes more than $223 million for cancer research, including $12.8 million for the Department of Defense’s Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) that funds colorectal cancer research.

The PRCRP is an opportunity to advance the best research to eradicate diseases and support the warfighter for the benefit of the American public. The research target diseases like colorectal cancer that directly impact the welfare of the American military, their families and the public. For example, a study published in the June 2009 edition of Cancer Epiemology Biomarkers & Prevention, researchers found that colorectal cancer was one of the most common forms of cancer among active-duty military personnel. Screening rates in the military for colorectal cancer, like in the general population, are much too low. In 2008, only about 58% of those in the military who should be screened for colorectal cancer had been screened.

The mission of the PRCRP is to foster ground-breaking research, team science, and partnerships for the development of better prevention, early detection, and more effective treatment of cancer. The funding supports high-quality medical research, concentrating its resources on research mechanisms which complement rather than duplicate the research approaches of the other major funders of medical research in the United States. The PRCRP strives to recognize and fund innovative research, which can ‘leap frog’ scientific advances towards achieving the goals of the programs. This focus can be high risk, yet can yield high gains. CDMRP funds research that may be considered too risky or preliminary for the NIH/NCI to support.

The research potentially helps to decrease the more than $1 billion that the Department of Defense (DoD) spends on cancer care each year.

“Fight Colorectal Cancer, on behalf of the thousands of war fighters at risk for or living with colorectal cancer, thanks the US House of Representatives for reaffirming its commitment to funding cancer research through the CDMRP. While we are grateful that cancer research will continue through this program, we remain determined to do more and do better for the men and women living with cancer while wearing a uniform.” — Carlea Bauman, President, Fight Colorectal Cancer

Although colorectal cancer research has only been funded through the PRCRP since Fiscal Year 2010, we are already seeing innovative research taking place. Dr. Carlos Alvarez at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Dr. C. Couto at Ohio State University, and Dr. Kun Huang at Ohio State University recently received funding for a research proposal identifying genetic pathways that are affected in cancer risk and disease progression by studying military working dogs.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in America. As Congress moves forward with completing its work on the Fiscal Year 2012 appropriations bills we hope it will continue to fund proven research programs that have the potential to reduce the billions of tax-payer dollars we spend on cancer care.

The next step is for the Senate to consider the bill. Please take a minute to contact your Senators about the importance of Fiscal Year 2012 funding for colorectal cancer programs.

It Isn’t Earmarked Funding

The defense health programs don’t come close to meeting the Administration’s own definition of an earmark.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines earmarks as “funds provided by the Congress for projects or programs where the congressional direction (in bill or report language) circumvents the merit-based or competitive allocation process, or specifies the location or recipient, or otherwise curtails the ability of the Administration to control critical aspects of the funds allocation process.”

The fact that President Obama does not request funding for important health research programs does not make them “earmarks” if Congress chooses to fund them.

All funding through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) is competitively awarded. Research proposals go through a two-tier review process of scientific peer review, followed by a programmatic review that includes basic researchers, clinicians, consumers, and military members.

To qualify, CDMRP research must have relevance to service members and their families. The research potentially helps to decrease the more than $1 billion that the Department of Defense (DoD) spends on cancer care each year.

The Research Isn’t Duplicative

Back in 2007, COL Harris, testified before the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee about the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. In answering how the CDMRP research is different than that of research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), COL Harris explained that “[t]wo hallmarks of CDMRP are innovation and inclusion of survivors in decision-making processes. CDMRP strives to recognize and fund innovative research, which can ‘leap frog’ scientific advances towards achieving the goals of the programs. This focus can be high risk, yet can yield high gains. CDMRP funds research that may be considered too risky or preliminary for the NIH/NCI to support.”

The CDMRP supports high-quality medical research, concentrating its resources on research mechanisms which complement rather than duplicate the research approaches of the major funders of medical research in the United States. Although the diseases included in this program are diverse, the research on these disease types is often synergistic. For example, investigators increasingly look at the molecular profiles of cancer, often finding connections across cancers affecting different body sites. Advances or progress related to one cancer fuels the research on the other cancers in this program, and treatments initially approved for one cancer are routinely found to be effective in others. For example, treatments approved initially for kidney cancer have proven effective in other solid tumors outside the scope of this program. Monoclonal antibodies, designed to target specific molecules on the surface of cancer cells, were first used in the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. They are now the most widely used form of cancer immunotherapy, with clinical trials in progress for almost every type of cancer.

It’s A Good Investment

Advocacy groups and members of Congress have been strong champions of Pentagon-conducted research because Defense Department researchers get results with minimal tax-payer investment.

Funding for the CDMRP is an opportunity to advance the best research to eradicate diseases and support the warfighter for the benefit of the American public. These research programs target diseases that impact directly the welfare of the American military, their families and the public. The CDMRP supports medical research on several forms of cancer (breast, blood, colorectal, melanoma, pediatric, brain, lung, ovarian, and prostate) and other diseases (like neurofibromatosis, bone marrow failure, and tuberous sclerosis complex) that have led to breakthroughs on nerve regeneration and traumatic brain injury. The CDMRP also funds research on Gulf War Illness, psychological health, spinal cord injury, and hearing and vision loss (which comprise a significant portion of current battlefield injuries). Other activities target diseases and conditions such as Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, Scleroderma, ALS, and Autism, conditions that can have a devastating effect on the families those in service leave behind.

Funding Successful and Innovative Research

Cancer research performed by the Pentagon is unique in that it funds high-risk, high-reward projects that may yield nothing or a spectacular breakthrough. Many of these projects have gathered enough data to receive funding from the National Cancer Institute, taking the research even further. The Pentagon’s annual budget for ovarian cancer research is only $12 million, but it has yielded multiple discoveries that benefit women with the disease. One example is the OVA1TM test, which helps physicians determine whether a pelvic mass is benign or malignant. Another breakthrough is a compound that slows ovarian cancer growth.

The DoD Prostate Cancer Research Program, through its sponsorship of Phase I/II trials through the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Consortium, has helped to bring to market 3 new medicines for men with advanced prostate cancer that were approved by the FDA in 2010-11: namely, PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T) – Dendreon Corporation, XGEVA™ (denosumab) – Amgen Inc, and ZYTIGA™ (abiraterone acetate) – Johnson & Johnson were all made possible through DoD support of a comprehensive clinical trials network of 13 US centers of excellence for prostate cancer research. Also, more than 2,700 patients have had access to 83 clinical trials since 2005 through the DoD’s Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Consortium.

Research funded by the Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Research Program (TSCRP) has led to the development of animal models of tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) and clinical trials, resulting in the first drug specifically to treat TSC being approved by the FDA in 2010.  These same animal models are shedding light on the consequences and potential treatment for traumatic brain injury.

The ALS Research Program has led to the identification and development of new chemical compounds which are now being developed for potential treatments for ALS, a fatal disease for which there currently is no effective treatment. The program also has enabled the parallel development of many new approaches to therapies for ALS, increasing the chances of finding a meaningful treatment for all people with the disease, including our heroes serving in the military who are twice as likely to die from ALS as the general public.

Dr. Carlos Alvarez at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Dr. C. Couto at Ohio State University, and Dr. Kun Huang at Ohio State University recently received funding for an innovative research proposal identifying genetic pathways that are affected in cancer risk and disease progression by studying military working dogs.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in America. As Congress moves forward with the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bills I hope it will continue to fund proven research programs that have the potential to reduce the billions of tax-payer dollars we spend on cancer care.

– Nancy Roach was a member of the FY10 PRCRP Integration Panel responsible for the programmatic review of grant applications submitted to the program for funding through the Department of Defense.  Ms. Roach is a founder of both Fight Colorectal Cancer (formerly the C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition) and the Colon Cancer Alliance. She currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for Fight Colorectal Cancer. Ms. Roach also serves on the Executive Committee of the FDA-Duke Clinical Trial Transformation Initiative. In her role as a patient advocate, Ms. Roach also serves on a number of advisory boards for the National Cancer Institute.

During consideration of the bill by the full House, there may be amendments offered to eliminate or reduce this important funding. Keep reading for more information on why the PRCRP funding is important and what you can do to help ensure the funding stays in the fiscal year 2012 defense appropriations bill.

The PRCRP is an opportunity to advance the best research to eradicate diseases and support the warfighter for the benefit of the American public. These research target diseases like colorectal cancer that directly impact the welfare of the American military, their families and the public. For example, a study published in the June 2009 edition of Cancer Epiemology Biomarkers & Prevention, researchers found that colorectal cancer was one of the most common forms of cancer among active-duty military personnel. Screening rates in the military for colorectal cancer, like in the general population, are much too low. In 2008, only about 58% of those in the military who should be screened for colorectal cancer had been screened.

The mission of the PRCRP is to foster ground-breaking research, team science, and partnerships for the development of better prevention, early detection, and more effective treatment of cancer. The funding supports high-quality medical research, concentrating its resources on research mechanisms which complement rather than duplicate the research approaches of the other major funders of medical research in the United States.

The PRCRP is very important. Dr Carlos Alvarez at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Dr C Couto at Ohio State University, and Dr Kun Huang at Ohio State University recently received a PRCRP funding grant for the following innovative research proposal:

“Despite great progress in genetics, little is known about the majority of genetic and environmental causes of complex diseases. One limitation is the great genetic complexity of the human population, in which many variations of many genes can be associated with disease. Another limitation is that it has not yet been possible to study groups of individuals over time, collecting standardized clinical, environmental, and molecular or genetic data. In humans, this has not been possible largely due to cost and ethics. Here we propose that dogs are the ideal mammal in which to identify genetic and environmental contributions to disease. Military Working Dogs (MWD) offer an unparalleled advantage in understanding the genetic mechanisms that contribute to the development of naturally occurring complex diseases. Genetic complexity in dog breeds is very dramatically reduced compared to humans, and each breed is predisposed to a different limited group of disorders. Nearly 400 inherited diseases, including diverse cancers, are well characterized in dogs. Almost all are similar to human disorders and, where known, involve the same biochemical pathways. Other major strengths of dog models is that they share an environment with humans, the also receive a high level of health care, but age five times as fast. Studies on pets share the limitations of bias that occur in the human population. MWD however have extensive clinical, behavioral, and environmental records. By using these records in combination with molecular and genetic characterizations we hope to identify environmental effects that alter heritable traits. Specifically we will integrate different kinds of information and conduct statistical analysis to identify exactly which gene variations and environmental effects are associated with increased cancer incidence or worse outcomes. We propose this would be the most powerful study of its kind to date. The successful completion of this work will yield information about genetic and environmental contributions to cancer. This information will not only be relevant to human cancers, but is likely to reveal completely novel understanding of geneenvironment interactions. The ultimate applicability of this work will be the identification of genetic pathways that are affected in cancer risk and disease progression. Importantly, the development of new treatments based on our findings will be vastly accelerated in clinical studies of pet dogs with cancer. For example, if drugs targeting the biochemical pathways implicated are already in human use or in development, those could be used in dogs without requirements for clinical studies that typically take six or more years in humans. Thus our proposal has the potential to quickly identify novel genetic and environmental contributions to cancer, and to result in the rapid development of new treatments.”

Research proposals submitted for funding through the PRCRP program go through a two-tier review process.  The first level is a scientific peer review conducted by an external panel recruited specifically for each peer review session.  The second-tier review is a programmatic review conducted by an “Integration Panel.”  Members of the Integration Panel include basic researchers, clinicians, consumers, and military members.  Research proposals that receive a recommendation from the Integration Panel are awarded funding in the form of 1-5 year grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements.

The Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program is just one of several innovative research programs within the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP). We are very concerned that amendments may be offered during floor consideration of the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill to reduce or eliminate this important research funding. We will be working hard to prevent this from happening, but we also need your help to ensure the funding stays in the bill….

Please take a minute to call your Representative and ask them to vote no on any amendments that would reduce or eliminate funding for the Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program.

Dial 202-224-3121, and ask the operator to connect you to your Representative. When you are connected to the office, you can use the following talking points:

Introduce yourself: Give the staffer your name and address (they need to know you are in their district)

Tell them why you are an expert: Explain your personal connection to colorectal cancer (are you a survivor, family member of a patient, caregiver, physician, nurse, etc)

Explain what you want: “I urge you to vote NO on any amendments that would reduce funding for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. The $12.8 million in fiscal year 2012 defense appropriations bill (H.R. 2219) for the Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program is life-saving research funding needed to continue a highly successful peer-reviewed, competitive grant program.”

The Virtual Lobby Day is an opportunity for patients, survivors, caregivers, health care providers, and researchers across the country to join together with one voice to tell Congress that you believe that the time has come for Congress to make colorectal cancer a top legislative priority!

Between your phone calls and the in-person visits from advocates who are in DC, Congress will hear us loud and clear. Join us today, and raise your voice.

When you call your legislators, you will be asking them to support the following 5 legislative priorities:

• The Colorectal Cancer Prevention, Early Detection, and Treatment Act (H.R. 912; S. 494).
• The Fight Colorectal Cancer Stamp Act (H.R. 893).
• Funding for the Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program at the Department of Defense for Fiscal Year 2011 and 2012.
• Funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) for Fiscal Year 2011 and 2012.
• Funding for the National Cancer Institute for Fiscal Year 2011 and 2012.

Before you call, please review the following documents (click each to download PDF file):

• Colorectal Cancer Basic Facts
• Background on the Colorectal Cancer Prevention, Early Detection, and Treatment Act (H.R. 912/S. 494)
• Background on the Fight Colorectal Cancer Act (H.R. 893)
• Background on the need for continued funding for colorectal cancer research and cancer control programs (use this to backup/support the requests for appropriations funding)

Each of the documents has talking points on each bill and request. You don’t need to use all of the talking points just pick out one or two that you are most comfortable with to tell the offices when you call them.

You should plan out what you want to say before you call so that you can get the “ask” across in a few brief sentences.

Below is a step-by-step guide of what to say when you reach your legislators.

1. The first thing to do when you call is identify yourself as a constituent. Give the office your name and address. You want to make sure your legislators know you live in their state and district!
2. Then go through the “ask.”You should say, “I’m calling today to ask my Senator/Representative to:
   • COSPONSOR the Colorectal Cancer Prevention, Early Detection, and Treatment Act (H.R. 912; S. 494).
   • COSPONSOR the Fight Colorectal Cancer Stamp Act (H.R. 893).
   • SUPPORT funding for the Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) at the Department of Defense for Fiscal Year 2011 and 2012. At a minimum I request that you fund the CRCCP at its current level of $16 million for the remainder of FY2011. And for Fiscal Year 2012, please fund this program at $75 million.
   • SUPPORT funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) for Fiscal Year 2011 and 2012. At a minimum I request that you fund the CRCCP at its current level of $45 million for the remainder of FY2011. And for Fiscal Year 2012, please fund this program at $70 million.
   • SUPPORT funding for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for Fiscal Year 2011 and 2012. At a minimum I request that you fund the NCI at its current level of $5.1 billion for the remainder of FY2011. And for Fiscal Year 2012, please fund this program at $5.76 billion.”
3. At the end of the call, remember to thank the staffer you talk with for their time and for “passing my request on to your boss.”

Please call all three of your legislators (your two Senators and your Representative) with this request. Simply dial the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask the operator to transfer you to your legislators.

The time you take to prepare and call-in as a virtual lobbyist will make a big difference. We need your voice to help us get members signed onto these bills as cosponsors.

If you have any questions about exactly what to say during your phone calls, please call Fight Colorectal Cancer’s policy director Catherine Knowles at 202-276-5682 or email her at Catherine@FightColorectalCancer.org.

Our panel of scientists and consumer reviewers worked hard, and I learned a lot from the scientists on the panel who were all experts in their fields.  It felt good to know that there some really wonderful ideas out there moving cancer research forward and that my critiques and scores will help decide the best of the best to receive funding.

The experience made the hairy early-morning drive to the airport through more than three feet of snow well worth it.

The Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) fund and manage research that has been specifically requested by Congress. Programs don’t come from either the President’s budget or the Department of Defense, but arise from requests from consumer advocates who work to get them included in the annual budgets passed by Congress.

The CDMRP seeks to fill research funding gaps by focusing on high-risk, high-gain research with an emphasis on innovative ideas, breakthrough technologies, and novel partnerships.

This is the first year that colorectal cancer has been part of CDMRP — after much work by Colorectal Cancer Coalition advocates to get it included.

From the beginning CDMRP has included consumers as part of grant review, particularly to judge the impact of proposed research on real patients in the real world.  As I read each proposal, I considered how soon the laboratory studies might translate into clinical trials with people and the difference the research would make in the lives of people with cancer.

For Fiscal Year 2010 the Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program includes funding for

• Melanoma and other skin cancers
• Pediatric brain tumor
• Genetic cancer and genomic medicine
• Kidney cancer
• Blood cancers
• Colorectal cancer
• Listeria vaccine for cancer
• Radiation protection using nanotechnology

The mission of the PRCRP is to

Foster ground-breaking research, team science, and partnerships for the development of better prevention, early detection, and more effective treatment of cancer.

It’s a mission that I was proud to be part of.

Other Colorectal Cancer Coalition research advocates who are part of the PRCRP project include Nancy Roach, Michael Katz, Pam McAllister, and Flo Kurttila — along with all of the advocates who visited and wrote and called their members of Congress and Senators on behalf of the program funding.

While this year’s budget for  was modest — $15 million to be shared among eight programs — the Coalition’s goal is to raise the funding to $50 million in the coming year.  You can help do that by contacting your members of Congress.

Grassroots Action Committee Members (left to right) - Liz Dennis, Arlene Murphy, LaRisha Baker, Florence Kurttila, Pam Seijo, and Dave Larson helped to plan and organize the 2010 Call-on Congress

Today, colorectal cancer survivors, caregivers, physicians, and nurses brought their fight against colorectal cancer to Washington, DC.  C3 President Carlea Bauman described the importance of their voices in the war against cancer, “colorectal cancer advocates who speak up and demand change will be the ones who make a difference in the fight against this disease.”

Even with advances in screening technology colorectal cancer continues to be the second leading cancer killer of men and women combined.  In 2010, nearly 50,000 people in the United States will die from colorectal cancer.  The real tragedy is that many of these deaths could be prevented if more people took advantage of colorectal cancer screening and early detection.

Over the next two days, the advocates will hear from experts about current research and cancer control programs aiming to decrease both incidence and mortality rates from colorectal cancer.

In addition, the advocates will receive briefings on bills currently pending in Congress which if enacted will help to increase population-based screening rates for colorectal cancer and increase funding for cutting edge cancer research.

On Wednesday they will head to the hill to meet with their Representatives and Senators and encourage the legislators to support of the following three legislative proposals that will help us win the fight against colorectal cancer:

• The Colorectal Cancer Prevention, Early Detection, and Treatment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1189).   This important legislation would establish a national colorectal cancer screening and treatment program administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  Approximately 30,000 to 44,000 lives a year could be saved if colorectal cancer screening was fully accessible and utilized.  In addition to saving thousands of lives, this legislation has the potential to save billions in Medicare expenditures.  According to an independent study by The Lewin Group, the provisions in this bill will save Medicare billions of dollars.

• The Colorectal Cancer Screening and Detection Act (H.R. 1330).  This legislation would require all health insurance plans, both individual and group, to cover a colonoscopy for anyone age 50 or older.  The coverage this important legislation requires is similar to the coverage that almost all states require health plans to provide for breast cancer screening.  Enactment of this bill will help to increase population-based screening rates for colorectal cancer (currently less than half of those who should be screened do get screened).

• $50 million in funding for the Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) at the Department of Defense for Fiscal Year 2011.  This program at the Department of Defense funds research for a number of cancers including colorectal cancer.  The program supports high-quality cancer research, concentrating its resources on research mechanisms which complement rather than duplicate the research approaches of the major funders of medical research in the United States.  Last year alone approximately 422,600 Americans were diagnosed with one of the cancers included in the PRCRP and 127,730 Americans lost their life to one of these diseases.

Stay tuned for updates from the 2010 Call-on Congress and follow the Call-on Congress fun on Twitter!

As a member of the Integration Panel, Ms. Roach will help with: (1) formulating a PRCRP vision and funding strategy that best addresses the research gaps for colorectal cancer; and (2) conducting a second-tier review of research proposals that are received by the US Army Medical Research and Material Command PRCRP program.

Ms. Roach issued the following statement after being invited to sit on the PRCRP Integration Panel: “It has long been a dream of mine to get funding through the Department of Defense for colorectal cancer research.  This new funding will support research efforts that investigate new methods of studying early detection, screening and treatment of colorectal cancer as well as attracting new researchers to the field.  It marks an important milestone in the fight against colorectal cancer with research on track to receive its fair share of federal resources, and I am honored to have been asked to sit on the PRCRP Integration Panel and have a role in setting the vision for the colorectal cancer research program.”

Research proposals submitted for funding through the PRCRP program go through a two-tier review process.  The first level is a scientific peer review conducted by an external panel recruited specifically for each peer review session.  The second-tier review is a programmatic review conducted by the Integration Panel.  Members of the Integration Panel include basic researchers, clinicians, consumers, and military members.  Research proposals that receive a recommendation from the Integration Panel are awarded funding in the form of 1-5 year grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements.

The Integration Panel reviews the state of the science, the needs of the scientific, consumer and military community to come up with a unique vision for the funding cycle. The Program announcements are written to accomplish the vision and the mission with guidance and recommendations from the Integration Panel. Once proposals are received and peer reviewed for the most meritorious science and impact, the IP reviews the needs of the program again and recommends for funding those proposals that best fit the needs and vision of the program. Sometimes this might not be the highest scoring proposal, but one that fits the needs within the scope of the vision and the limited amount of funding available.

The PRCRP Integration Panel is scheduled to meet at the end of March.  Stay tuned for updates on the exciting new research that will soon be underway!