Download Research Advocacy Sample Letter - American Physiological Society

As Congress considers our nation’s budget priorities, I urge you to support the highest possible
levels of funding of biomedical research. The basic research supported by federal agencies such
as the NIH, NSF, and VA provides the foundation for innovation in medicine and technology.
Our nation’s long-term investment in such research makes it possible to find treatments for
devastating diseases as well as to fuel our economic competitiveness by providing jobs for a 21st
century workforce.
Recently the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology published an essay
showing how basic research makes a difference in people’s lives. Conquering Cancer with Drugs
from Nature’s Medicine Cabinet describes the basic research that led to exciting new cancer
treatments from natural products. Taxol is the most well-known case of a drug from a natural
product. Its active ingredient is a chemical found in the bark of the Pacific tree. In 1992, when
Taxol was approved by the FDA, only 20% of women diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer
survived for another 5 years; today 80% of women treated with Taxol will survive at least 5
years.
Since 1982, the FDA has approved 7 other cancer-fighting drugs from natural compounds, and 7
more are in the drug-development pipeline. The systematic development of drugs from natural
products started in 1960 when the National Cancer Institute started to screen plants to find out
whether they contained chemicals that could kill cancer cells. If so, researchers tried to isolate
that chemical killed, and find out how it worked. They also needed to make sure that the
compound didn’t have toxic side effects that would harm people.
Behind every “miracle” of modern science and technology are years of research to answer a
myriad of questions. I urge you to continue investing in our nation’s basic research so the U.S.
can continue to be a world leader in scientific innovation.