WHAT RESEARCH IS BEING DONE AND WHAT IS NEEDED?

The National Cancer Institute over the years has dedicated a small amount of money to targeted research efforts at a handful of medical centers in the United States with programs centered on the 1% of cancer patients who develop sarcoma. With the NCI budget being $5.7 billion, a similar proportion (1%) targeted to help find new therapies to help sarcoma patients might be expected to be $57 million. It is hard to estimate, but review of data presented for the public on the NCI website indicates no more than $5-10 million per year is being spent on NCI sarcoma research programs. There is a dire need for increased NCI funding for research into sarcoma sub-types.

We need funding programs to build on discoveries of targets arising from genetic research in sarcoma. Sarcoma may be ideally suited to immunotherapy approaches. All projects related to sarcomas will be considered. The SFA Medical Advisory Board reviews and approves all SFA grant recipients.

WHAT TYPE OF RESEARCH DOES THE SFA ADVOCATE AND HELP FUND?

SFA funds basic science medical research that will lead to the development of new therapies against sarcoma or that has the potential to lead to the development of new therapies against sarcoma. Due to IRS restrictions, the SFA does not fund clinical trial efforts. However, SFA strongly advocates for increased sarcoma clinical research by government and private sector organizations developing new therapies against cancer.