Newswise — The Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) commends the National Cancer Institute (NCI) on the release of its Annual Plan & Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 and its request for $9.988 billion in funding. Stable, predictable funding increases are necessary for AACI’s 105 member cancer centers to continue accelerating progress against cancer.
The FY 2024 budget proposal represents a significant increase over previous years and emphasizes leveraging scientific opportunities to advance cancer research. Priorities highlighted in the proposal include:
- Supporting transformative, investigator-initiated research through research project grants, and making progress toward the goal of increasing the R01 payline to the 15th percentile by 2025
- Expanding and modernizing cancer clinical trials
- Building upon the success of the Cancer Moonshot and the 21st Century Cures Act
- Advancing health equity to ensure that the benefits of cancer research reach underserved populations
- Fostering a pipeline of diverse scientists to strengthen the cancer research workforce
“AACI has been a longtime advocate for increasing the R01 payline,” said AACI Executive Director Jennifer W. Pegher. “We are pleased that the NCI continues to bring attention to this issue, while highlighting key cancer center priorities, including health equity, workforce diversity, and clinical trials, in the budget proposal.”
Other areas of scientific opportunity emphasized in the proposal include multi-cancer detection tests; therapies that use a patient’s own immune cells to kill cancer cells; the role of persistent poverty in cancer incidence and survival; and developing new drugs from “undruggable” cancer targets.
NCI Acting Director Douglas R. Lowy, MD, used the proposal as a platform to call for sustained and robust annual funding increases to raise the NCI payline – an important issue for AACI cancer centers.
“NCI’s commitment to increasing the payline is vital to advance new cancer cures and prevention approaches for our patients, and to ensure that the next generation of promising cancer scientists remain in the cancer research field,” said AACI President Caryn Lerman PhD, director of USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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AACI’s mission is to accelerate progress against cancer by enhancing the impact of North America’s leading academic cancer centers. For more information, please visit aaci-cancer.org.
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