This is not specifically OC-related, but I thought it was interesting: The New York Times has an article today on how most of the National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society grant funding for research goes to "safe" projects that make only incremental gains (if that) in the fight against cancer.

Incremental gains to them keeps the kitty flowing with the bucks to feed a lot of them. Must be the safe way or no way to them. Show a gain and get a gain.

I think one of the most interesting points in this is how LITTLE the American Cancer Society spends on research given that they have taken in easily hundreds of millions (almost a billion) every year for the last ten years alone. I guess when you spend millions of dollars on fund raising, (their largest expense category) and run a multi-million dollar national TV campaign in the last three months alone with commercials that say no more than - ACS "WE SPONSOR BIRTHDAYS" (what a totally self serving waste of donors money!!) there isn't much left over to do research with.

Note that OCF's early funding of Dr. Gillison were relatively inexpensive "proof of principle" small group studies (25 people), that once done, allowed her to obtain major funding from the NCI for her published studies. Maura has had a consistent string of epiphanies, but as a young, relatively unpublished researcher would have been discounted by the big guys, but her questions and ideas have been dead on. Early in the process she would have never been funded by NIH. Her funding mostly came from small groups outside the government like OCF. HPV in those days was not a hot topic that it is today. I am very proud that we have been able to cooperate with her and her team over the years to the point where her major source of funding does come from the government.

Leslie,

This article also caught my eye so I'm glad you posted it here. The amount of dollars thrown at so-called cancer research as compared to the actual results, is staggering.

And Brian, I have to say, I do admire your even handed, yet teetering on scathing, criticisms of 'business as usual.'

Were it not for Maura Gillison and this site I probably would never have known what caused my cancer, not to mention all the other information she's discovered about oral HPV.