Senate Approves Lance's Cancer Research Act

Press Release

The U.S. Senate has passed, by voice vote, U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance's "Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act," which would coordinate research of the forms of cancer that have the lowest survival rates.

The bipartisan cancer research measure was added an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, which could gain approval in the U.S. Senate as early as next week. The U.S. House passed a free-standing version of the Lance legislation in September.

"I am very pleased that the U.S. Senate has passed this important legislation which seeks to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancers with high mortality rates," said Lance. "I applaud the efforts of U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who shepherded the measure through the Senate, and my friend and colleague Congresswoman Anna Eshoo for joining me as strong advocates for cancer research."

The Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act would help the National Cancer Institute's efforts to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancers with high mortality rates. Research advancements in the fight against pancreatic, lung, liver, and ovarian cancers have lagged behind gains made in fighting all other cancers, which have improved from 50 to 67 percent in the last 40 years.

Congressman Leonard Lance has been one of these leading advocates in Congress in the fight against pancreatic cancer -- currently the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States with a five-year survival rate of only six percent.

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