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MED!CAL RESE-ARC~!- - Health officials in Washington are about_ ready to_unvEi',_ -the strategy for the biggest attack they have-ever mounted against a-disease.-T_heir aim is to reduce the -incidence--and- dPath rate of cancer, and to develop-new and better ways *o treat cancer_uat:ents. - Not_sin;,e tha Apollo program has a: Despite such doubts, Rauscher and says i~:auscher: 38 @ BU9NEESVYEEK: SWarber 23. 1972 - - will act as a prime contractor in con- ducting research on eolon-ret--tal cancer. - It will work on a grant instead of an award fee basis_ A similar grant has _ been worked out with St. -Vincent's- the fact that a former_ deputy director plot the steps that must be taken to Hospital, at Worcester, Mass., for a of missio-n control at NASA will run this- reach_ predetermined goals. This kind $2.5-million-a-year bladder cancer-re- information system. - of operational approach has the-fancy search effort. Breast cancer and lung Chief coordinator of the whole pro- -name of "convergence technique." - cancer research will stil! be- managed gram will be 41-year-old Dr. Frank J. - It is not-the first +,ime-that the Na- from the institute, according to Rauscher, Jr., head of the National tional Cancer Institute has used such Rauscher. But NCS is looking for con- Cancer Institute. He expects some for- an approach in a research program.- -tractors- to manage and coordinate its - midable _problems. Not the least of Carrese and Rauscher, with the_forzner work in prostate and pancreas ~n;~er._ them will be that of persuading every- head of the institute, Carl _ G. Baker, Piarxilnp. More than 250 scientists were one who will be looking over his shoul- - tried- the -convergence technique on a- involved in- the-$tratagy planning ses. der that he is handling the program special virus leukemia -program in the- sions with taCl: Last October, the nrst properly. "I've got more cooks than you early 1960s. Since then, the same sys- 40-of them gathered with 1v'Ct planners hly imagine,r:r has b~eern arp can gossi_ imagine," he says. Among • ;,,- ~ ~ lie,. ~ to a numk ~er of at ~ Airlie House,-in Warrenton, Va. them are the - National _Institutes of N,t programs, including breast cancer, -"We told them to come to a three=-or Health, the President's three-man Na- and-chemical carcinogenesis. four-day meeting with specific recom- _ tional Cancer_Panel, the Office of Man- The chief difference this time, says - mendations," says the NCI's John ~ agement & Budget, the 28-man Na- Carrese, is_tl:e sheer magnitude of the - McShulskis; who is responsible for tiona-l- Cancer Advisory Boa-rd, progran-~. It means finding out what strategy planning. "We told them to Congress, ar,d-various scientists. thousands of labo:atories are doing in suggest people to take- over the next ;_ Complaints are already coming in research._It involves getting a reading layer of planning, and we asked them ~ from some scientists about the systems on what everyone with a research to come up with projeci,ions in tertns of management approach that Rauscher grant is doing, and assessing the cost and chance of success." - plans to take. M. Earl B-a Iis, head of the chances of success. And it means count- ife- says: "During that meeting, I Cell Metabolism -division of Sloan-Ket- less decisions on where and how to sup- never saw- so many people put in so_ - tering Institute for Cancer Research, is- plerimer.t or redirect research. - much time agai~-n.st their better ,jydg- one of a number of scientists who fear Op-era!!ens. Some of the big opesational _ ment. But they did-it because we Uldd that systeR;; management will hinder decisions have been made already. The them it was the only way to-get a_ -na- research. "Therg's-no place :n the plan NrcI, for exanil,le, will use pri~ne_ con- tia~.al cancer plan." - for the un expected, he sa, s. "They t actors to :nanage as well as conduct - Finally, after boiling down all the want us to adjust our research to a flow much of its research. "This has never hun!lreda of recommendations_ anZ S~&_ ._ sheet." been done in medical research before," sessments, M:Shuiskii and hig- teant= _ cations network will be set up to re- - ceive, store, and disseminate data Prime CoTltra£#UFS will about everything that happens in the manage and corldl;C#- cancer research field.-Heightening-the research for the N CI- resernblance to the Apollo program is '_year, and the-figure is likely to jump to the details of t:leir operational plan, award fee arrangement, unde: which it _ $600-million in 1~7fi and to approach which will be completed next March. - can make as much as $625,M on a$S.?~ - $1-billion by 1976. The key to this plan, says Rauscher's i_,illion contract this year. But if it does Fifteen_ centers will act as regional planning and analysis assistant, -Louis not meet a-series of goals, Bionetica research and treatment headquarters,- M. Carrese, is to-get a precise picture coul:l take a loss. and a vast data- bank and communi- of all current cancer research and-t.hen -- Houston's M.D.- Anderson Hospital gram is being set up with a_ systems Drs. Rauscher, Carrese, and McShuiskis torm the hi,h~conimand in the war aga~n$t carsztr, m anagement approach almost as_ elabo- his planning staff of nine have ham- For e;.ample, Litton Bio.;etics ;box) - rate as - the man-on-the-moon efffort.- mered out-a basic strategy_-for the a:.- beat out dozens of-companies for a con- More than 5S(l0 U. S. scientists, plus tack on cancer, and they will-release itt tract to run t?ci's- virology inveeti- many others from foreign countr:es-, as soon as it passes an 11th-hour re- gatioris-at the old Army g;rn:-warfare will Se-drawn into the pror. am. About v'ie~- by the National Aca-de-nv-of S_ ci= research labs, at Fort Detrick, in FredE $4349-mill-ion will be spent this fisral_ ences. And now-they are working out erick,_Md. TheBionetica:,ontract issn peop e. . n e u -a._~i-can;,e. pao- i TJ. S. research effort involved so ~nany $ ~ 1 A d th h 1 °^t• ~~ _- were able to set -uV_th_eir- _o-tiec=all --- - - -- - - ~ - - - - MEDICAL PIESEARf15 - - - ~

~Blonefic s~ A prime cont.:dow IftAl* thickoff the wak n-cancr- 1is _thp U. S. assault on cancer swings turn. ";f wQ dor,% heads will ro.ll,'~-+e-- kept alive two to three-years- to watch into action, the spotlight at first will saye:-_ for deveiop3nent of tumot°s.= _ focus on Litton Bioneties,-a division of Basically,- Bionetics= has-14 major -= 3'-ne _architactpPally, drab Detrick -- Litton Industries. Bionetics is the-fi=:st "tasks" to- perform=for= tl•ie-_NCI un&r -co:n~iek gives little5snt that the-Ar~ny prime contractor named t¢ head a key --the ter~-nf_ its~ontr~ Each "-Fias =has-polled o,iy p~-the-olftase. At every part of the research effort=Tunrring the _ its =nwn~ P--,i &r ebart gr 3amed = at entrance tue old,-~~rig gi$n still -re- _ IvTationa-1 Cancer in4ti€ut_e % viroldg-~- Lidne-tiea ~~;petex °f~ci~~ ~t-eston: m,ins- "A11 p~rsamand- vehicles are opePatinr,s _at_ Fort=Detrick, ~+`id.,=wh8re `Xa;;~ irr~ier th-e- eyes ::-o"a tnonl[tors ltableu-search= apon Q:.;.ry,u ~€a exit, less than three years ago the Arcny ':~er~=are ~narts~to~ for pr~aee~ that onvv~;hun=the-~nsnes_ol' this installa~ __ .or3ucted=biological-warfare=resgarch- depend _on_rabora~b~~evei~~~~nents ortio= ' = Bivnetics' general manager, at Fort-_ research ~chievementothat-cut-~crsss ~~~m of= _Russiarn scientists - got - Detrick will be Dr: Robert `E. S_tev en-- several-af the 14 tasks - _ - ~-~. son;-a microbiologist and former ehiief - If ascien-tis€`anyiavher~-needs a-virua_ -- of the Biological Products Div. of _, tnat 1ms become a hof subjett-or an-en- Union-Carbide Corp. - zym~ ~xtraetedfrozn that Vi=rus1_ Stevens;,n- ;ees his company's NCi to produce it._ contraet as a unique event r uioi:.edi B-onetA , ivouid ~e~do _the research cal research. "~re're not i~~;st__blazing =need€u-to diseover hnw t3_ produce the- new paths i:~ sc_ience bui;±trailblaaing -virus: But Stc-venson's scientists wiil new fror.tiers in science man'agement, not- -wark-tn- the more ~sual_atiFno- __ he=says. "People say you ca n't program sphere common in universities. At I)e- _ a breakth-rough:_'"hat's_true. But you tncK,-everyone will have to -work-by-a- can apply cost effectiveness techniques scheiluie that will deterre ine- the aY1 im- to-researc.h." . portant award fee= - " Stevens9n knaw:s that he ,ad_Eetter _ A _1te;; facility a_-Detrick wi!i be the pQrform, -because various t~'i~ncer-snsti- Atmy's old a:~iir.al_farm, which Bfonet=- tute -project wai,chdogs are br aL ;i~ ics nr~ust bring up fx~ top 4tazdards-of down his neck and they expe^ him lto __ punfy. De+riek's- ,-iisrQ; g.u:nea piga. " deliver- the ,Tesearch andd production monkeys, and = rabbits _will rot be just ` - - o- ~s -on tirne Crie~, Bourland the ` ordin~ry animdls 'P,P~ev vill -be s R~ ~ I g ~ ~ i°~5 standarCs: 6iQnetics w lt use nbed - xCI's deputy scientific coordinator at , cially lnbrPd,_b_loloaIcall. "clean" snecl -_ anir~als_kept in a aerm .rea atmusohsr4 j Detrick, says he expects Eibnetic3_ wiii riens, which must be kept th3t way-in - NC: - ~cr~illion ger~n-frev r ooris _ to conform to I keep - 7'fi% to ~`,1; of _ its ~6 _ _ = . _ _ award fee as profit during the first-= standards. vear, because its performance will be itusslan visitorar vVl:er. the Army oper-_ measured largely-by how well 1t-rneets ated the farm for toxicological tests on i' start-up sch edules. -After that, the go- deadly germs, the standards-were not ing will be tougher, because Bionetics so-high: B-eside-, tested animals-in- I will-f-a:e the necessity of delivering re- - fected with tularemia; encephalitis, or search results on time- pestis _;the agent of buboni_c plague) I Warning. But Stevenson says he will not - were seldom expected to survive. in be satisfied- with less than _ an 8% re- cancer research, animals must often be -strategy on a giant dart board. At its mits that_the whole m>•;r_tibillion-dolldr center was the goal: to reduce _the_ inci- e:fort -ctould fall- flat unless scientists dence, morbidity, and morts':ity=of hu- are -kept close to the-piogram. He s3ys:- man cancers= Then, branching off like "I=said from -the- beginning that we slices of pie were seven -cbjectives,- -would have-no trouble recruiting scien-- r-anging from -prevention to cure. Be- - tists for this. program provided they yond that: 35 approaches to-meet the _ understood and were invoived- in the seven objectives, 55 approaeh -elements planning. Now, they are waiting to be to meet the_approaches, and Z€0 project shown." areas detailing the approaches. -_ -- Pcmonnal. Cantarow is_worried thatthe The scientific community was not NC1 will be hard-pressed to find enough overly impressed=-at first. "The whole -of the right people to-fill key spots. "It= process was a bit foreign to _me,'-"- re- takes 6 to 10 yearsto train people from calls Dr. George W. Santos, a rQsearch- scratch to do cancer research," he sayst biologist at the Johns-Hoplons Medical- "That means we'll have to get them ~~ lnstitutions. I had- never been in- from somewhere- else." Since these volved in anything-that big. But I saw people -canriot be drawn tintirely from=- no other_wa_ way to handle that amount_ of other _ "vernment_ prog-r ams- or f rom input." _ the universities, it=will be necessary to To make sure that scientists under- _ enlist thousan ds _ of them fromm indus- stand the way the NCt will handle its try, individually or~n gro~.;ps.- war on cancer, biochernist Auraham- A major concern among scientists is- CanLarow has been appointed as a go- that_in driving for a quick,payoff, the between.= Cantarow, a foriner head of NCt will shortcu _,t;asic research, and-- the Jefferson --?rledical- College thereby damage ,its _ quality. -If-f that Biochemistry Dept. in Philadelphia, ad- happens, scientists warn, young scien- BUSINESS iNEEK: SOOeM-bsr 23, 1972 their firsl; iook=at the D etriek labora- torie3 last month nurirg-a tour headed _ by the Soviet Health biinister.-Feelerg have been sent out unofficially to Chi-- nese scientists to-see if they would like ~ to-pay a visit. A-nd the first sampies of I a-virus that the Soviets believe msy ~ cause leukemia (cancer_ of the blood) could arrive at D-etri_ck for animal teat- ~ -ing be€ore yearend: AA€GyCAL tE3EARpf tific talent willing to work for the NCI will dry up in a hurry; -_ - Rauscher-'snsists_that nothing of the sort will happen. "We're bending-over_ backwards to make sure that the young guy with-the bright idea gets preferen-- tial--treatm4nt," he says. "I=ean aavard grants of "3 ,000 or less-without board approval. And I intend to use that au-- thority predominantly-for the younger investigators." In addition, he says, 45% of NCi-'s budget will continue to be- spent in its grants_ program, which is controlled=by scientists. _ - - - Nonetheless, some scientists remain unconvinced. "tf we're not careful, ave'll end up-with some super-group lay- ing dowR -scientilfic dogma," - warns- Balis. But Dr. Robert Huebner; the re- nowned cancer virrologist, has no such -- fear. -He sas ~:_ -`Scientista always get _ up tight when something like this hap- pens. I think_ the NcI's approach -can- speed progress-against -cance_ p. But it will have _ to keep ep se, entists there to- make it work." - • oo4996674 1 t