Cancer grants skewed to small programs

WASHINGTON, June 28 (UPI) -- One reason scientists haven't made more progress in the fight to prevent cancer is not enough money, U.S. experts say.

Research grants awarded by the National Cancer Institute and from private groups such as the American Cancer Society have become jobs programs to laboratories concentrating on small projects that in and of themselves won't lead to fewer cancer cases, The New York Times reported Sunday.

"These grants are not silly, but they are only likely to produce incremental progress," said Dr. Robert Young, chairman of an independent group that makes recommendations to the cancer institute.

Young told the Times projects with the best chance of making real differences in cancer prevention and treatment are frequently turned down because the outcomes are too uncertain.

"We have a system that works over all pretty well, and is very good at ruling out bad things -- we don't fund bad research," added Dr. Raynard Kington of the National Institutes of Health. "But given that, we also recognize that the system probably provides disincentives to funding really transformative research."