2005 House Appropriations Subcommittee Testimony

George Dahlman, the Society's vice president of public policy, spoke before the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Labor, Health and Human Services and Education on April 21, 2005. His message: strenghthen congressional funding for cancer research.

"For treatment of the blood cancers, the last decade has yielded a targeted therapy, two radioimmunotherapies, a monoclonal antibody, a proteasome inhibitor, and several new cytotoxic drugs.

"Even with these impressive improvements in treatment, the blood cancers still pose a serious burden. Almost 115,000 Americans will be diagnosed with one of the blood cancers in 2005, and more than 54,000 will die from one of these diseases. The five-year survival rate for those with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is 59 percent, and for those with multiple myeloma the five-year survival rate is only 32 percent. For survivors and their families, these numbers are not acceptable."

Click here for the full transcript.

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