Action to Cure Kidney Cancer

When: Saturday, January 30, 2010

Time: 2-4 PM

Where: Einhorn Auditorium, Lenox Hill Hospital

131 E. 76th Street

New York City

(between Park and Lexington Avenues, adjacent to the 77th Street Stationon
thenumber 6 subway line)

For information or RSVP, contact Charlotte Hettena:

Email:chettena@optonline.net

Telephone: 516-593-4897

Tuesday, March 9th 4:00 - 6:00 PM 

Guest Speaker: Dr. Susumu Inoue, Director of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Hurley Medical Center, Flint will speak on "Cancer and Genes".  

Meeting, open to the public, will be held in the boardroom of the Genesys Hurley Cancer Institute, 302 Kensington Ave, Flint, Michigan.

For more information, contact Scott Nyman at GHCI (810) 762-8226 or Frank Friedman FrankFriedman8311@yahoo.com or (810) 232-8233.

Note that Governor Granholm has again declared March as Kidney Cancer AwarenessMonth in Michigan.

Fred Atkin

Kidney cancer advocate, Fred Atkin of Commack, NY, recently participated in the evaluation of research proposals submitted to the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) sponsored by the Department of Defense. Fred Atkin was nominated for participation in the peer review process by Action to Cure Kidney Cancer (ACKC). As a consumer reviewer, he was a full voting member of the scientific peer review panel, along with prominent scientists and clinicians. The Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09) PRMRP received a $50 million congressional appropriation to fund research across 19 topic areas including kidney cancer.

Amato GiacciaAction to Cure Kidney Cancer (ACKC) is pleased to announce the awarding of a grant of $45,000 to Dr. Amato Giaccia of Stanford University to fund a research in kidney cancer. We are able to make this grant as the result of a very generous contribution to ACKC by the Cecile and Ken Youner Fund for Cancer Research, which was established in memory of Cecile Youner, the beloved wife of ACKC's Medical Director.

Ken YounerACKC is proud to announce the appointment of Dr. Kenneth Youner as Medical Director of our organization. Dr. Youner, who is a 6-year survivor of stage IV kidney cancer, is a gastroenterologist by training and has had 30 years practical experience in his field. In the area of kidney cancer advocacy, Dr. Youner has been an advisor to ACKC since 2005. Among his other advocacy activities, in 2008, he served as a Super Advocate to the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship and testified before Congressional health aides in Washington, DC on NCCS's behalf. He serves as New Jersey State Delegate to the Livestrong Lance Armstrong Foundation and has participated in several bicycle rides to support their work. Dr. Youner is also an active member of the Association of Online Cancer Resources (ACOR) listserv providing medical advice to kidney cancer patients and caregivers. Finally, Dr. Youner has represented ACKC in our recent lobbying campaign in Washington to urge Congress to appropriate additional funding for kidney cancer research.

Geoffrey Clark

Geoffrey Clark, Associate Professor of molecular biology at the University of Louisville, KY, was selected to receive a 3-year grant, commencing in July 2009, as part of the Department of Defense's Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP). Dr. Clark's research will focus on a tumor suppressor gene called RASSF1A, which, along with the VHL gene, is turned off in a majority of kidney cancers with clear cell pathology. In one aspect of his study, Dr. Clark will research drugs that turn on RASSF1A to observe their effect on kidney cancer progression.

The fact that kidney cancer is currently one of the 19 diseases that are eligible for research grants from PRMRP is a direct result of the lobbying campaigns that Action to Cure Kidney Cancer (ACKC) has conducted for the last 4 years in Washington, DC. Dr. Clark's grant is projected to be in the range of $485,000.

Pfizer is Announcing a New Phase 3 Trial for Axitinib (AG-013736)

Pfizer will soon announce the opening of a large scale, Phase 3 randomized trial in the U.S. and 20 other countries testing axitinib versus sorafenib (Nexavar) in patients who have previously failed a therapy, either cytokine (Interleukin-2 or Interferon) or a targeted therapy including Sutent. Pfizer expects to start the trial this summer and hopes to get the first IRB approval in June or July, 2008.

The Dear Colleague letter requesting the $15 million appropriation, which, if granted, would increase the federal research budget for kidney cancer research by half is scheduled to be voted on in July.

Please call, and have all your friends and family call your/their Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Senators' health aides and ask them to have their Senators approve the Dear Colleague letter that is asking for the $15 million appropriation.

The Senators on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee are:

Senator Daniel Inouye (Chairman) (HI)

Senator Robert C. Byrd (WV)

Senator Patrick Leahy (VT)

Senator Tom Harkin (IA)

Senator Byron Dorgan (ND)

Senator Richard Durbin (IL)

ACKC has been successful in getting the Department of Defense to include kidney cancer as one of 21 areas eligible to compete for research funds in the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program as part of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. The total pot is $50 million. There are four award mechanisms funding grants from $900,000 plus indirect costs to $2.5 million plus indirect costs. the grants are from three to four years. To see the full details go to:

http://cdmrp.army.mil/pubs/press/2008/08prmrppreann.htm

Last year Maria Czyzyk-Kreska, MD, PhD, of the University of Cincinnati received a three year grant of $932,919 for kidney cancer research.

Maria Czyzyk-Krzeska

ACKC Lobbying Efforts Result in $933k Grant for Kidney Cancer Research

In 2006, Action to Cure Kidney Cancer and its supporters lobbied Congress seeking a $15 million appropriation within the Department of Defense's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) for kidney cancer research (see Campaign 2006 below for details). Although we did not get the $15 million, we were successful in getting kidney cancer listed as one of the twenty-eight topic areas eligible to compete for $50 million in research grants in the FY2006 Peer Reviewed Medical Program (PRMRP), which is also within the CDMRP. This was the first time kidney cancer was eligible to receive Department of Defense (DoD) money for research.