Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I rise today in opposition to the continuing resolution. Instead of fighting the war on cancer, this bill declares war on cancer research and those who undertake it. The National Cancer Institute Director, Dr. Harold Varmus, said it best in December when he warned that the proposed cuts would have dire and lethal consequences. He is right. The proposed $1.6 billion cut to the National Institutes of Health would undermine the most successful innovation model the world has ever seen. The classic view of innovation is that government funds basic science while industry comes up with new innovative products based on that science. This model has worked well. Over the past 40 years, 153 new FDA-approved drugs and vaccines were discovered through research carried out at public institutions with Federal funds. In the last 20 years alone, one out of every five important medical advances approved by the FDA was invented in a federally funded lab. Those inventions, which included 40 new drugs for cancer, are currently generating more than $100 billion a year in sales for drug and biotechnology firms. This includes drugs like Herceptin for breast cancer; Avastin for lung cancer; and Gleevec for gastrointestinal stromal tumors that inhibit and/or block cancer cell growth. This research in cancer alone supports over 1,300 clinical trials each year for promising new therapies for more than 200,000 cancer patients.…”