The Trump administration's proposed funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including the National Cancer Institute (NCI), “would be devastating to the pace and progress of cancer research in America” if they are implemented, the CEO of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) said in a May 30 statement.
“ASCO maintains that federally funded cancer research is the single best investment our country has ever made,” CEO Clifford Hudis, M.D., said in the statement. “Slashing federal research funding at a time when science is revolutionizing cancer care risks leaving millions of patients without the promise and potential of life-saving breakthroughs.”
President Donald Trump’s budget proposal (PDF), unveiled May 30, suggests slicing the NCI’s budget to around $4.5 billion, a decrease of about 37% from last year. For the NIH as a whole, the proposal seeks to cut $18 billion for a total budget of $27.9 billion, a nearly 40% reduction, according to a summary (PDF) of the proposed budget from the Department of Health and Human Services.
"ASCO is alarmed about significant proposed funding cuts to the NIH and NCI," Hudis said in the statement. "America became the global leader in medical research and innovation through deliberate design and decades of intentional investment. Proposed funding cuts threaten all we have gained through this investment. "
“The U.S. cannot afford to abdicate its leadership in scientific innovation," the CEO continued. "The path to conquering cancer is to keep pushing science forward and ASCO will continue relentlessly defending and advocating for robust federal cancer research funding."
The American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) released a similar statement May 30 condemning the proposed cuts, which still need to be passed by Congress before being enacted.
“For the past 50 years, every significant medical breakthrough, especially in the treatment of cancer, has been linked to sustained federal investment in research at NIH and NCI,” the ACS CAN said in the statement. “This commitment has contributed to the remarkable statistic of over 18 million cancer survivors currently living in the U.S. today.”
“These proposed cuts will lead to more suffering and death from cancer, reversing course on the downward trend in cancer death rates,” the action network added.