The War on Cancer
The War on Cancer

Author: Guy B. Faguet

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2008-11-23

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1402036175

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After reviewing the history of cancer and its impact on the population, Dr. Faguet exposes the antiquated notions that have driven cancer drug development, documents the stagnation in treatment outcomes despite major advances in cancer genomics and growing NCI budgets, and identifies the multiple factors that sustain the status quo. He shows that, contrary to frequent announcements of breakthroughs, our current cancer control model cannot eradicate most cancers and the reasons why. Significantly, this book also delineates a way forward via a shift from the discredited cell-kill approach of the past to an integrated, evidence-driven cancer control paradigm based on prevention, early diagnosis, and pharmacogenomics. The author's views are based on data published in mainstream scientific journals and other reliable references, 432 of which are cited.

Centers of the Cancer Universe
Centers of the Cancer Universe

Author: Donald L. Trump

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-10-11

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1538144905

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A 2022 Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic Title An important history of the development of cancer centers of excellence and the revolution in cancer treatment. In the 1960s a coalition of concerned citizens, scientists and politicians joined forces to convince the federal government to focus its efforts on conquering cancer. The National Cancer Act of 1971 resulted and was signed into law on December 23, 1971 by President Nixon. The national “War on Cancer,” was declared with some leaders naively arguing that the disease would be conquered by the nation’s bicentennial—a mere five years in the future. Over the next five decades scientific discoveries demonstrated the great complexity of what had formerly been thought of as a single disease – with the advent of the genetic characterization of cancers, it is now recognized that there are almost an infinite number of cancers as defined by their many genetic mutations. The National Cancer Act established the infrastructure for the designation of centers by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and these centers have evolved into models of multidisciplinary, collaborative cancer research, treatment and prevention contributing to a reduction in cancer mortality and increase in quality of life and survival that has translated into more than 17 million cancer survivors in the United States in 2021. Centers of the Cancer Universe: A Half-Century of Progress Against Cancer tells the story of how cancer research was not front and center at most universities and research institutions before the National Cancer Act of 1971, and why many physicians were reluctant even to treat patients with cancer in the early 20th century. It follows the behind-the-scenes lobbying, resistance and negotiating that preceded signing the Act into law, and how the cancer centers of today came to fruition, and shaped how cancer research, clinical trials and treatment would be conducted.

A World Without Cancer
A World Without Cancer

Author: Margaret I. Cuomo

Publisher: Rodale

Published: 2013-10-01

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 1623361591

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A provocative and surprising investigation into the ways that profit, personalities, and politics obstruct real progress in the war on cancer—and one doctor's passionate call to action for change This year, nearly 1.6 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed and more than 1,500 people will die per day. We've been asked to accept the disappointing strategy to "manage cancer as a chronic disease." We've allowed pharmaceutical companies to position cancer drugs that extend life by just weeks and may cost $100,000 for a single course of treatment as breakthroughs. Why have we been able to cure and prevent other killer diseases but not most cancers? Where is the bold government leadership that will transform our system from treatment to prevention? Have we forgotten the mission of the National Cancer Act of 1971, to "conquer cancer"? Through an analysis of over 40 years of medical evidence and interviews with cancer doctors, researchers, drug company executives, and health policy advisors, Dr. Cuomo reveals frank and intriguing answers to these questions. She shows us how all cancer stakeholders—the pharmaceutical industry, government, physicians, and concerned Americans—can change the way we view and fight cancer in this country.

The Unequal Burden of Cancer
The Unequal Burden of Cancer

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1999-06-11

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0309071542

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We know more about cancer prevention, detection, and treatment than ever beforeâ€"yet not all segments of the U.S. population have benefited to the fullest extent possible from these advances. Some ethnic minorities experience more cancer than the majority population, and poor peopleâ€"no matter what their ethnicityâ€"often lack access to adequate cancer care. This book provides an authoritative view of cancer as it is experienced by ethnic minorities and the medically underserved. It offers conclusions and recommendations in these areas: Defining and understanding special populations, and improving the collection of cancer-related data. Setting appropriate priorities for and increasing the effectiveness of specific National Institutes of Health (NIH) research programs, to ensure that special populations are represented in clinical trials. Disseminating research results to health professionals serving these populations, with sensitivity to the issues of cancer survivorship. The book provides background data on the nation's struggle against cancer, activities and expenditures of the NIH, and other relevant topics.

The Emperor of All Maladies
The Emperor of All Maladies

Author: Siddhartha Mukherjee

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2011-08-09

Total Pages: 624

ISBN-13: 1439170916

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Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a documentary from Ken Burns on PBS, this New York Times bestseller is “an extraordinary achievement” (The New Yorker)—a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence. Physician, researcher, and award-winning science writer, Siddhartha Mukherjee examines cancer with a cellular biologist’s precision, a historian’s perspective, and a biographer’s passion. The result is an astonishingly lucid and eloquent chronicle of a disease humans have lived with—and perished from—for more than five thousand years. The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance, but also of hubris, paternalism, and misperception. Mukherjee recounts centuries of discoveries, setbacks, victories, and deaths, told through the eyes of his predecessors and peers, training their wits against an infinitely resourceful adversary that, just three decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out “war against cancer.” The book reads like a literary thriller with cancer as the protagonist. Riveting, urgent, and surprising, The Emperor of All Maladies provides a fascinating glimpse into the future of cancer treatments. It is an illuminating book that provides hope and clarity to those seeking to demystify cancer.

A Contagious Cause
A Contagious Cause

Author: Robin Wolfe Scheffler

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2019-06-15

Total Pages: 391

ISBN-13: 022662837X

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Is cancer a contagious disease? In the late nineteenth century this idea, and attending efforts to identify a cancer “germ,” inspired fear and ignited controversy. Yet speculation that cancer might be contagious also contained a kernel of hope that the strategies used against infectious diseases, especially vaccination, might be able to subdue this dread disease. Today, nearly one in six cancers are thought to have an infectious cause, but the path to that understanding was twisting and turbulent. ​ A Contagious Cause is the first book to trace the century-long hunt for a human cancer virus in America, an effort whose scale exceeded that of the Human Genome Project. The government’s campaign merged the worlds of molecular biology, public health, and military planning in the name of translating laboratory discoveries into useful medical therapies. However, its expansion into biomedical research sparked fierce conflict. Many biologists dismissed the suggestion that research should be planned and the idea of curing cancer by a vaccine or any other means as unrealistic, if not dangerous. Although the American hunt was ultimately fruitless, this effort nonetheless profoundly shaped our understanding of life at its most fundamental levels. A Contagious Cause links laboratory and legislature as has rarely been done before, creating a new chapter in the histories of science and American politics.

The Conquest of Cancer
The Conquest of Cancer

Author: Guy Faguet

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-08-23

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789402403879

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Based on 30 years of clinical and research experience, backed by a careful assessment of four decades of published data, Dr. Faguet documented in The War on Cancer (Springer 2005), early advances in cancer treatment and patient survival that soon stalled. Ten years later and after an exhaustive analysis of evidence-based data available through 2013 that incorporates 755 references, he reveals the root causes of the stagnation in cancer control, including the role played by major stakeholders and advocates a coordinated national effort, akin to the Apollo program, to unveil the causes of cancer and their mastery. In the interim, Dr. Faguet urges caregivers to manage patients according to the four ethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, respect for patients’ autonomy and justice especially at the end of life.