$16 Million in Federal Stimulus Funding Establishes Seattle as a Hub of Comparative-Effectiveness Research In Cancer

$16 Million in Federal Stimulus Funding Establishes Seattle as a Hub of
Comparative-Effectiveness Research In Cancer

SEATTLE, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research
Center, Group Health Research Institute and the University of Washington
schools of Public Health and Pharmacy have been selected to lead four projects
backed by approximately $16 million in federal stimulus funding for
comparative-effectiveness research in cancer. The grants establish Seattle as
a national hub for conducting such research, which aims to objectively analyze
cancer diagnostic tools, screening tests and treatments to determine the
optimal choices based on balancing benefits -- including effectiveness -- and
harms, such as cost. Most of these projects involve extensive collaboration
between these local institutions.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has dedicated $1.1 billion to fund
such research via the Grand Opportunities (GO) grants program of the National
Institutes of Health, which supports high-impact ideas that lend themselves to
short-term funding. The Seattle-led GO grants, each of which will fund
two-year projects, account for approximately one-third of the National Cancer
Institute's first investment in the burgeoning field of cancer-related
comparative-effectiveness research.

"Cancer is one of the highest areas of health care spending," said Scott
Ramsey, M.D., Ph.D., an internist and health care economist who is leading a
Hutchinson Center-based project that will lay the foundation for research to
evaluate how various cancer genetic tests influence cancer care, outcomes and
costs. "We are spending multiple billions on cancer diagnostics and hundreds
of millions on genetic tests, for example, but we're not certain what we're
getting for all of that money. Are patients living longer? Are they living
better quality lives? We just don't have that answer," he said.

The following Seattle-based comparative-effectiveness research projects aim to
help provide some of those answers:

Cancer genomics -- A $4 million project based at the Hutchinson Center and led
by Ramsey, a member of the Center's Public Health Sciences Division and a
professor of medicine at UW School of Medicine, will fund the development of
an infrastructure to support the "Center for Comparative Effectiveness
Research in Cancer Genomics," or CANCERGEN. This public-private consortium
will design and conduct prospective, controlled clinical trials of promising
cancer genetic tests working in close collaboration with the University of
Michigan-based Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG), one of the largest
NCI-supported cancer clinical trials cooperative groups. Researchers in the
SWOG Statistical Center, co-located at the Hutchinson Center and the Seattle
nonprofit Cancer Research And Biostatistics (CRAB), will design the
statistical structure of the study and lead data management and analysis.
CANCERGEN will develop the tools that help SWOG researchers determine which
proposed trials will have the greatest clinical benefit for patients. "Part of
CANCERGEN's vision is to position SWOG as a national leader in cancer
comparative-effectiveness research," Ramsey said. "Realizing that vision will
go a long way to help achieve the health care reform goal of making cancer
treatment more effective and less expensive," he said. Researchers at the UW
School of Pharmacy and the Center for Medical Technology Policy in Baltimore
will co-lead the effort.

Cancer diagnostics -- A $4 million project based at the UW School of Public
Health and led by Larry Kessler, Sc.D., professor and chair of the UW
Department of Health Services, will fund research to evaluate the
effectiveness of cancer diagnostics -- from mammography and MRI to ultrasound,
PET-CT, and blood- or tissue-based biomarkers -- to determine the extent of
disease and plan treatment. "Over the past decade, the field of both medical
imaging and laboratory-based diagnostics has taken a quantum leap forward.
However, the evidence to determine how to best use these modern technologies
in clinical practice hasn't kept pace with the technological developments,"
Kessler said. "Our research will help providers and patients make better
decisions about the use of these technologies, which ultimately will lead to
the best possible outcomes," he said. The project, called "Advancing
Innovative Comparative Effectiveness Research in Cancer Diagnostics," or
ADVICE, will be co-led by investigators from the UW schools of Pharmacy and
Medicine, Group Health, Veterans Affairs and the Hutchinson Center, which will
serve as the study's data center.

Breast imaging -- A $4 million project led by Group Health will support
comparative-effectiveness research of conventional and cutting-edge breast
cancer imaging techniques to help determine which modalities are most
effective for women according to individual patient demographics and risk
factors. It will use data from the NCI's Breast Cancer Surveillance
Consortium, a nationwide collaborative network of mammography, tumor and
pathology registries. With modeling experts from NCI's Cancer Intervention and
Surveillance Modeling Network, the project will compare the effectiveness of
various breast cancer screening strategies such as film-screen mammography,
digital mammography and breast MRI. "A growing body of evidence is showing
that screening tests can sometimes do more harm than good," said Diana
Miglioretti, Ph.D., a senior investigator in biostatistics at Group Health and
one of the project's leaders. "This study will let us evaluate different
strategies for breast cancer screening so we can inform women about the best
screening choices for them, based on their own age, risk factors and
illnesses." The grant, "Comparative Effectiveness of Breast Imaging Strategies
in Community Practice," will be co-led by investigators at Group Health, the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of California at
San Francisco, the University of Vermont and Georgetown University.

Cancer screening -- A $4 million project based at Group Health aims to lay the
groundwork for studies to improve the effectiveness of colorectal and cervical
cancer screening and increase participation in such screening. "How well
cancer screening works in real-world settings depends not only on how well
each screening test identifies cancer, but also on patients, health care
providers and the context and systems in which health care is delivered," said
Diana Buist, Ph.D., M.P.H., an associate investigator in epidemiology at Group
Health and one of the project's leaders. "Our grant will study how to deliver
colorectal and cervical cancer screening most effectively to populations. The
goal is to detect cancer better, decrease the rates of screening's adverse
effects and, ultimately, to reduce death from cancer," she said. The project,
called "SEARCH: Screening Effectiveness and Research in Community Based
Healthcare," will be co-led by Chyke Doubeni, M.D., M.P.H., an assistant
professor in family medicine and community health at the University of
Massachusetts Medical School. The project will be conducted in collaboration
with seven other health-maintenance organizations in the NCI's Cancer Research
Network, a consortium of 14 health plans across the U.S., to quickly and
effectively translate and disseminate its findings directly into clinical
practice.

Cancer treatment -- In addition, Group Health is collaborating on a $4 million
GO grant based at Dana Farber Harvard Cancer Center that will address two key
issues: the costs and effectiveness of treating advanced cancer and the lack
of population-based research on patterns and outcomes of cancer care in
populations not covered by Medicare, such as those under 65 and the poor. The
data from the study will be provided, in part, by the Cancer Research Network,
a research-based consortium of health-maintenance organizations that is based
at Group Health. "Most cancer research is done in patients in the early stages
of their disease, so we know relatively little about patterns of treatment
among patients whose cancer has recurred or progressed," said Paul Fishman,
Ph.D., an associate investigator at Group Health and co-investigator on the
project. "This study will provide evidence needed to support better care for
more patients. Our research will be based on a wide range of patients who
receive care in the full range of clinical settings where Americans receive
their cancer care."

These GO grants represent just a fraction of federal stimulus funding for
biomedical research awarded to these Seattle institutions. In total, as of
Oct. 1, the UW schools of Medicine, Public Health and Pharmacy had received
$79.6 million for 186 projects, the Hutchinson Center had received nearly
$40.4 million for 60 projects, and Group Health had received more than $17
million for 15 projects.

About Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center -- At Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists and
humanitarians work together to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS
and other diseases. Center researchers, including three Nobel laureates, bring
a relentless pursuit and passion for health, knowledge and hope to their work
and to the world. For more information, please visit www.fhcrc.org.

About the University of Washington School of Public Health -- The UW School of
Public Health is one of 40 accredited schools of public health in the nation
and the only one in the Northwest. The mission of the school is to promote
better health, prevent illness and injury, and ensure more efficient and
cost-effective health care services through education, research and service.
The combination of discipline-oriented academic programs in the school's five
departments and strong interdisciplinary research provides a setting for
faculty and students to apply in-depth expertise to broad public health
problems. For more information, please visit http://sph.washington.edu/

About Group Health Research Institute -- Group Health Research Institute is a
non-proprietary, public-domain research institution within Group Health, a
health care system based in Seattle. To serve its mission, the Institute
conducts and disseminates research and evaluation on: the organization,
delivery, quality, and cost of health care; prevention, treatment and
management of illness; and strategies at the individual, provider, system,
community and policy levels that result in better health outcomes. The
Institute has conducted comparative effectiveness research for more than 25
years; providing scientific evidence for effective, affordable care -- and
determining how well tests, treatments and preventive actions work in real
clinical settings. For more information, please visit
www.grouphealthresearch.org.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Kristen Woodward
206-667-5095
kwoodwar@fhcrc.org

University of Washington School of Public Health
Clare Hagerty
206-685-1323
clareh@u.washington.edu

Group Health Research Institute
Rebecca Hughes
206-287-2055
hughes.r@ghc.org

SOURCE Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Kristen Woodward of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, +1-206-667-5095,
kwoodwar@fhcrc.org; or Clare Hagerty of University of Washington School of
Public Health, +1-206-685-1323, clareh@u.washington.edu; or Rebecca Hughes of
Group Health Research Institute, +1-206-287-2055, hughes.r@ghc.org