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Patient families are encouraged to ask their U.S. Sentators to co-sign letter to Senate Committee on Appropriations.

(PRWEB) May 24, 2004 -- The Kidney Cancer Association (KCA) today called upon its 60-thousand constituents to urge federal legislators to become co-signers of Sen. Charles Schumer's (Democrat, New York) recent letter encouraging the Senate Committee on Appropriations to increase funding for renal cancer research:

"May 3, 2004

The Honorable Ted Stevens
Chairman
U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Defense
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye
Ranking Member
U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Defense
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Stevens and Ranking Member Inouye:

We are writing to express our strong support for including kidney cancer among the diseases eligible for funding under the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program. Kidney cancer has historically been overlooked and under funded, and we hope that you will consider our request to invest in new treatment options for those who suffer from the disease.

Mortality rates for kidney cancer patients are disturbingly high due to the limited treatments that are currently available. Interleukin-2, the only FDA-approved drug therapy for kidney cancer, produces only a 15% response rate and a mere 5% cure rate for metastatic kidney cancer, for which the 5-year survival rate is only 9%. Unlike other types of cancer, no therapy exists to prevent future recurrence of kidney cancer once patients are in remission. The current treatment options are clearly not adequate to give patients a real chance at recovery once diagnosed with metastatic kidney cancer, which accounts for about 30% of the cases.

For a disease that has received very little research funding to date, kidney cancer affects a surprisingly large number of people. In 2003, 36,000 new cases were diagnosed, an increase of 12% over the previous year, while more than 12,000 individuals died of the disease. Although the average age of diagnosis is 54, many kidney cancer patients are in their 30s and 40s. Therefore, deaths resulting from kidney cancer often cause severe economic and emotional hardship to families who are deprived of their loved ones in the prime of their adulthood.

Supplementing current kidney cancer research funding with additional money from the Department of Defense would be a significant step toward providing meaningful treatments for kidney cancer patients. This funding would be most appropriately received from the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program and through a $35 million appropriation to the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs to fund kidney cancer research.

We believe that kidney cancer is a devastating illness that deserves a meaningful increase in research efforts supported by significant funding from the National Defense Appropriations Act. We thank you for your consideration, and look forward to a day when realistic diagnostic and treatment options will exist for Americans who suffer from kidney cancer."

Volunteer KCA Governmental Affairs Committee Chair, Sarah Wise, encourages families touched by kidney cancer to visit the Association's advocacy website: www.KidneyCancerAlliance.org to learn more or to write letters to Members of Congress in support of Sen. Schumer's initiative.

The KCA, founded in 1990, by the late Eugene P. Schonfeld, Ph.D., represents patients and their families in the U.S. and more than ninety countries.