AACR Call to Action
From FY 2016 to FY 2023, Congress increased NIH funding for eight consecutive fiscal years. These funding increases for medical research enabled scientific progress and contributed to the longer-term decline in cancer mortality in the United States. As of 2021, the overall cancer mortality rate had decreased by 33 percent from its highest level in 1991. In addition to breakthroughs in therapies, these declines can be attributed to improvements in cancer prevention and early detection.
This progress over the last several decades has also included strides against childhood cancers. Thanks to scientific breakthroughs leading to new therapies and other treatment approaches, cancer death rates among children (14 years and younger) and adolescents (15 to 19 years) declined by 70 percent and 63 percent, respectively, between 1970 and 2021. However, there has recently been a troubling increase in the incidence of certain cancers among people under the age of 50, particularly colorectal cancer and cervical cancer. It is vitally important that policymakers continue to support research and health programs to make progress against all cancers, including those afflicting younger people.
Further action is also needed to address the use of tobacco products. While the percentage of US adults who use combustible tobacco products has declined significantly, cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, associated with the development of not only lung cancer but 17 other cancer types. Additionally, many American youth and young adults use electronic cigarettes. Electronic cigarettes still emit many harmful chemicals with unknown long-term health impacts, and there is a large domestic market of illicit flavored e-cigarettes. These challenges will require policymakers to continue to support smoking prevention and cessation initiatives and programs to reduce the use of e-cigarettes.
Additionally, federal investments in medical research must continue to focus on reducing health inequities. Stronger investments in programs at agencies including NIH, NCI, and FDA can boost diversity in the cancer research workforce and enhance clinical trial diversity. Furthermore, higher appropriations for cancer programs at CDC can improve health equity by improving the availability of cancer screening and prevention programs across diverse communities.
A new generation of therapies, including novel immunotherapeutics, antibody-drug conjugates, combination therapies, cell therapies, and proteolysis targeting chimera technology, has already begun to transform cancer treatment. However, strong federal investments in medical research, including through the newly created Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), are essential for discovering these treatments as well as to ensure that they become readily available to all patients.
After years of growing federal budgets for medical science, Congress cut NIH funding in FY 2024. This unfortunate outcome was a direct consequence of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), legislation that passed last year to mandate spending caps for FY2024 and FY2025 to resolve the nation’s debt ceiling issue, at least temporarily. The budget reduction that NIH absorbed in FY2024 threatens to curtail the medical progress seen in recent years and stymie future advancements.
While the spending caps remain in place as Congress negotiates its FY 2025 appropriations bills, we are encouraged by the efforts from Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) and Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member and Vice Chair Susan Collins (R-ME), as well as Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), who serve as the Chair and Ranking Member, respectively, on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, to prioritize a robust funding increase for NIH in FY 2025. First, they worked in a bipartisan manner to make available an additional $13.5 billion in emergency funding for nondefense spending accounts in FY 2025, and second, they then allocated a significant amount of that extra funding ($1.8 billion increase) to NIH to ensure that our nation’s leading researchers will have access to the resources that are necessary to make the scientific discoveries that lead to lifesaving cures and improve the health and well-being of people across the nation and around the world.
Therefore, as Congress continues its work on the FY 2025 appropriations bills, AACR urges leaders in the House and Senate to recognize the importance of supporting robust, sustained, and predictable funding growth for the federal medical research and health programs vital to the fight against cancer.
To this end, we call on Congress to:
- Appropriate at least $51.3 billion in FY 2025 for the base budget of NIH and at least $7.934 billion for NCI.
- Provide $3.6 billion in dedicated funding for Cancer Moonshot activities through FY 2026 in addition to other funding, consistent with the President’s FY 2025 budget.
- Appropriate at least $472.4 million in FY 2025 for the CDC Division of Cancer Prevention to support comprehensive cancer control, central cancer registries, and screening and awareness programs for specific cancers.
- Allocate $55 million in funding for the Oncology Center of Excellence at FDA in FY 2025 to provide regulators with the staff and tools necessary to conduct expedited review of cancer-related medical products.
By following these recommendations, Congress will help accelerate the rate of discovery and create vital pathways for young scientists to contribute to future advances in cancer research. Ultimately, this will improve our nation’s health, including the lives of the millions of people who have been affected by cancer.
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