TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2009

The Caterpillar Foundation just  announced a $50,000 challenge match for the Peoria Cancer Center Foundation. The Caterpillar Foundation will match up to $25,000 from Caterpillar employees and retirees and up to $25,000 from the Peoria area community. 

The funds will be designated specifically for assisting low income patients who cannot afford cancer treatment.

THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2009
BY CLARE HOWARD OF THE JOURNAL STAR

Dr. James Knost of the Oncology/Hematology Department at Illinois CancerCare is a leader in cancer research, seeing major advances in cancer research during the past 32 years.

After 32 years in oncology, Dr. James Knost predicts a renaissance over the next six years in molecular biology. That means major insight into the pathways of cancer.

To be part of that progress in central Illinois, Knost said, means a portion of cancer research must come from grass-roots support. Community interest will help determine which of the pioneering cancer-fighting drugs come to central Illinois, he said.

Knost and his partners at Illinois CancerCare, located on Illinois Route 91, formed Peoria Cancer Center Foundation in 2002 and pay all overhead costs themselves. That support from oncologists means all donations to the foundation go to research rather than toward operating costs. Further, all donations to the foundation stay in central Illinois because the money is used to support clinical trials at Illinois CancerCare and its satellite locations.

Knost thinks success in building local contributions will come from making the intangible tangible.

"I understand why people are tone deaf to fundraisers. American Cancer Foundation, Cancer Center for Healthy Living, St. Jude. Why one more?" Knost said.

The explanation is because in central Illinois, people who have failed conventional cancer treatment have three options, he said. They can enroll in hospice, travel for treatment to major research centers in the country or participate in clinical trials at Illinois CancerCare and its satellite clinics throughout central Illinois.

For those patients who elect clinical trials here in central Illinois, the drugs are provided free by the pharmaceutical companies; health insurance pays for the medical treatment and the Peoria Cancer Center Foundation helps pay administrative overhead.

The foundation received $150,000 in contributions in 2008, and this year's goal is $450,000.

In this sense, the public's interest has direct bearing on which clinical drug trials are offered in Peoria, Knost said.

GlaxoSmithKline has a cancer drug that closes blood vessels feeding cancer. The drug is now used in kidney research and there is inferential evidence it would be effective in treating prostate cancer for patients who have failed to respond to conventional treatment.

"Our goal is to bring this drug here for metastatic prostate cancer patients who have failed hormone therapy," Knost said.

The foundation also coordinates with other central Illinois physicians and scientists and provides funding for their cancer research.

"There are more new cancer drugs than there are investigators in this country. All these drugs can't be researched at major centers," Knost said.

"It is disappointing that we have within this country young scientists raring to go . . . to take concepts and move them further toward the goal. It is a matter of setting priorities."

About 350 patients a year participate in clinical drug trials at Illinois CancerCare. Increased funding will mean more available drug trials for more cancer patients in central Illinois receiving treatment in the community.

"The thing about our community is that, on a per capita basis, we donate more to charitable causes than any other city of our size," Knost said. "It's laudable. Look at our support of St. Jude. If the people of central Illinois support this (foundation work), more new drugs will come here and provide hope to more patients who have failed traditional therapy."

Government funding is hard to come by.

"It's easy to see the benefits of a high speed train from Chicago to St. Louis, but it's harder to see the benefits of basic science research," Knost said. "The benefits of basic science are not as tangible. The public may not appreciate second-line colon cancer treatments. It doesn't show up on their radar screens."

Kollet Walty, executive director of the foundation, said, "Physicians here see research as hope."

Since the 1970s when cancer patients had a 30 percent survival rate, research, clinical drug trials and early detection have improved the odds to 70 percent survival, she said.

"With all the federal cuts, many clinics had to cut services. Many practices pulled out of research. Our doctors want to double the research done here," she said. "This year, we will have more fundraisers than in previous years. We're ready to move to the next level."

Clare Howard can be reached at 686-3250 or choward@pjstar.com.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 27, 2008
BY CLARE HOWARD OF THE JOURNAL STAR

CancerCare fights back despite cuts - Oncology group says research funding down but vows, 'We won't quit'

PEORIA -- Nancy Cone is fighting stage 4 ovarian cancer in a drug research trial with the group called, Illinois CancerCare, formerly known as Oncology Hematology Associates of Central Illininois at the Peoria Cancer Center while she watches annual, systematic cuts in federal funding for clinical cancer drug trials.
Cone, 67, dismisses concern about herself, but she's unnerved by what these funding cuts mean for her children and grandchildren.

As oncology clinics nationwide react to these cuts by eliminating drug research trials, Cone's Illinois CancerCare doctors have resolved to continue and even expand.

"Maybe the public is not aware of these cuts. Research is so important. It's probably the only answer," said Cone. "We have to keep moving forward."

Two of her three daughters have tested positive for a genetic predisposition to cancer.

"Research is critical, maybe not for me but the children and grandchildren," she said.

Cone participates in a cancer drug trial through Illinois CancerCare, formerly Oncology Hematology Associates of Central Illinois on Illinois Route 91.

"It's a crime these programs are in jeopardy. It's absolutely ridiculous," she said.

The public is largely unaware of these cuts because of "political lip service" and "gamesmanship," said Dr. John Kugler, Cone's oncologist and one of the founding partners of Illinois CancerCare.

Recognized as one of the 10 best cancer research facilities in the nation, Illinois CancerCare is facing a 3 percent decrease in overall reimbursements this year on top of cuts over the past eight years. Overall, the practice is trying to deal with about $250,000 less in annual reimbursements.

"The funding is a lot of political lip service. What they say is, they are doing everything to support cancer research at the same time funding is flat or decreasing," Kugler said.

The type of community-based research that Kugler and his partners bring to central Illinois is an integral part of the front line in the battle against cancer.

"Successful programs are private community practices. These private practices are more efficient than academic centers," he said.

However, despite those efficiencies, private community groups are getting out of clinical research because of funding cuts.

"We won't. We won't quit," Kugler said.

Besides loss of funding, oncology is facing declining numbers of physicians entering the field. Kugler said young doctors are not specializing in oncology in part because it is a labor intensive practice, but more significantly because of declining reimbursements.

"The number of cancer patients is going up but there are fewer oncologists because of all these problems," he said.

Kugler and his partners at Illinois CancerCare formed the Peoria Cancer Center Foundation to try to make up for cutbacks in federal funding.

Kugler said 100 percent of contributions to the foundation will go to cancer care in central Illinois. Doctors at the practice are underwriting administrative costs for the foundation.

"In 30 years, this practice has never turned away a patient because of lack of funds," Kugler said, noting the clinic has two full-time staff members working to secure drugs for its indigent cancer patients.

Last summer, the clinic hired a director for the foundation.

Kollet Walty, spokeswoman for Illinois CancerCare and director of the Peoria Cancer Center Foundation, said, "Our practice has lost a quarter of a million dollars in research funding, and our physicians are making up those lost dollars.

"These cuts are coming at a time when we critically need more cancer research, not less. Our docs are funding the difference, and they want to add patients to our clinical trials. They want to expand research, awareness and education."

The foundation was formed in 2002 as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit, but it did not actively solicit public contributions. Until recently, doctors in the practice were the primary source of contributions.

However, Walty said the foundation is now beginning a push for public awareness and funding.

She said cuts in federal research dollars are coming at the same time Medicare is cutting back on reimbursement rates.

"There are a lot of good causes out there, but cancer affects everybody. One in three people will be afflicted with cancer," Walty said. "The foundation has big goals that can be told through countless individual stories of people battling this disease."

Kugler predicts funding problems will become more critical.

"This will get worse. Look at the investment in dollars and programs in the last two to three years and see a clear-cut downward trend," he said.

Another problem he cited is the backlog at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Even after the FDA approves a drug, it may be years before it can be marketed for specific diagnoses.

Kugler said it's a "catch-22" when a drug has FDA approval but can't be used until the FDA indicates specific diagnoses.

"Congress pats itself on the back and says it's behind clinical research," he said. "Well, yes, but ..."

The loss of clinical trials not only means loss of research results but also loss of opportunity for cancer patients who could benefit by drug trials.

"Opportunity is lost because of all the bureaucracy," he said.

"The solution? Patients and their families have got to go to Congress with their message."

Peoria Cancer Center Foundation has a number of fundraising events planned for this year. The foundation has a 2008 goal of $450,000.

For more information on Illinois CancerCare, go to www.illinoiscancercare.com. For more information on the foundation, a new web site is being set up at www.peoriacancer.com.

Clare Howard can be reached at 686-3250 or choward@pjstar.com.