Advocate to Build and Sustain Federal Support
for Pancreatic Cancer Research
Why We Need You
As the national leader in the fight against pancreatic cancer, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network has a bold goal to double pancreatic cancer survival by 2020. The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer remains in the single digits at just 9 percent, and a January 2019 American Cancer Society report showed that pancreatic cancer deaths have surpassed breast cancer deaths, making pancreatic cancer the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the U.S.
This shift was predicted by a May 2014 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network report published in the American Association of Cancer Research journal Cancer Research. Our report further projects that by the year 2020, pancreatic cancer will move from the nation’s fourth to the second leading cause of cancer-related death.
Now more than ever, we must work harder and faster to grow our community of scientists, increase annual federal research dollars, enroll more patients in clinical trials and increase national awareness by attracting more volunteers and participants to our events. Our advocacy initiatives are a critical part of our success!
Advocacy Yields Progress
On January 2, 2013, President Obama signed the Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act into law. This landmark legislation is helping to accelerate progress and improve patient outcomes. As a first step in implementing the new law, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) released the “Scientific Framework for Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma” in February 2014, which outlines four key research priorities. NCI has already made some important progress to advance these priorities.
Passage of this new law was due in large part to the thousands of supporters across the country whose extraordinary efforts to create awareness and advocate in their communities created the momentum needed for Congress to act.
We Can’t Stop Now
While passage of the Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act was an important win for the pancreatic cancer community, now it is critical that we focus attention on increasing federal funding for the NCI so that the opportunities created by the new research the Act is fostering can be leveraged.
Did you know that the majority of cancer research is paid for by the federal government and that your U.S. senators and representatives get to decide how much is spent each year? And that the decisions the federal government makes about spending levels are the biggest determinant of how much pancreatic cancer research is done in any given year? It’s true. And now that you know – it’s time to get to work telling Congress exactly what we think about the importance of pancreatic cancer research.
Ready to raise your voice on Capitol Hill?
