Tobacco Documents Online

RJR World, Feb. 1980 Biomedical research/Ross ,. (Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part series on RJR's support of scientific research into smoking-and-health and general biomedical matters.) There are no easy answers to finding cancer causes and cures. For each of the constant advances gained in cancer knowledge and research technology by sources like the Council for Tobacco Research -- USA, another vast new frontier of cancer research seems to open up. No longer can cancer be attributed simplistically to a single factor; such as cigarette smoking. Science now recognizes cancer as not one disease but a whole family of diseases, springing from a multitude of origins -- including genetics, environment, living habits, cell development, and the body's immune system. Aware of the urgent need to seek answers to cancer riddles in these and other basic areas of biomedical science, R.J. Reynolds Industries has substantially broadened its research support beyond the boundaries of smoking-and-health. To)d-i-i~ its program of biomedical research support, Reynolds Industries has formed a scientific steering committee headed by Dr. Frederick Seitz, former president of Rockefeller University and of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Seitz, an authority on solid state and nuclear physics, is assisted in_-guirli-ng--the--RJlt--b-iome.dit-a}---resear-ch_.pzogram- by Dr. Maclyn McCarty, former vice president of medicine at Rockefeller University, and Dr. James A. Shannon, former director of the National Institutes of Health. The steering committee,_tiah,ch reports -to the---RJR--board of )___rlirectors-, makes certain that RJF: funding goes to research projects / which are: • Well-conceived, cost-efSective and realistic; • Firmly based in acceptec scientific theory; and LA 0 ~ ~ ~ 0 r 0 rn

• Conducted by medical schools and institutions with outstand- ing professional talent and facilities. The presence of Drs. Seitz, McCarty and Shannon both serves to insure that research is conducted independently and objectively, and that researchers use the funding t.o progress along the lines of the ,s~/1 esl. . research proposals~ a~~ ved by t he boa . ~ Through'1979, RJR has spent over $40 million on smoking- and-health and biomedical research -- including about $8 million over the past year. In the process, RJR has bc:er, acting in sole sponsorship of several prominent biomedical studies; aniong them are: R.J. Reynolds Fund for the_Biomedical Sciences and Clinical Research, at Rockefeller University_ This Fund, to which RJR has committed $2.8 million, is focused on probes into the causes of the principal degenerative diseases of mankind -- particularly cancer, 4diabetes, lung and kidney ailments and high blood pressure -- as well as research into metabolic, behavioral and environmental stresses. Research into early detection and treatment of cancer, at the University of Colorado. Dr. Barry Pierce is heading a $2.5 million, five-year study to test a theory that stem cells in various body tissues are the ones most prone to cancer. The hope is to be able to inhibit or treat cancer by adjusting the cellular environment to prevent stem cells from developinca malignantly. Study of arteriosclerosis arid cardiovascular diseases, at the University of Washington. Dr. kussell Ross is leading a $2.8 million, five-year investigation into thc• crigins of arteriosclerosis (thick- ening of the linings of vei.-ns-ar& arteries). The group is exploring I ,; . the dietary and genetic influences on arteriosclerosis for possible ~ 0 ~ ways to develop early detection and prevention of pathological ~ m 0 thickenin of blood vessels . g ~ 0

-3- A probe into all aspects off lung function and disease, at the University of California in San Diego. Dr. Kenneth Moser is direct- ing a $2.9 million, five-year program to generate substantial new knowledge of the lung and its interaction with both outside agents and the organism in which it resides. This work is being carried forward by a multi-disciplinary team of biochemists, immunologists, physiologists, diagnosticians and experts in nuclear medicine and instrument technology. Research into diabetes mellitus, at the University of Penn- sylvania. A multi-disciplinary team, using a $1.25 million, five-year . ~;:..:. grant from RJR, is conducting research in metabolism and tissue structures and their relation to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, blindness and uremia. Research into the development of arteriosclerosis, at Bowman Gray School of Medicine. Dr. Thomas Clarkson is heading a program, funded by a $640,000, four-year grant from RJR, that is studying stress-related diseases in nonhuman primates. Study into the treatment of cancer, at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dr. Donald R. Cooper is heading a unique $200,000, two-year program that has succeeded in giving two patients relief from the effects of myeloma (bone marrow tumor), via an external blood filtration procedure. Through the committee headeo by D_r. Sei_t?, RiR is continuing to search out other likely candidates for support, and expects to fund new projects annually. 7 * f k