| WHAT: |
According to a new study funded by the National Cancer Institute, the Food and Drug Administration is not doing enough to help speed up the approval of potentially lifesaving cancer drugs. Cancer therapies in the FDA’s “accelerated approval” program – created in 1992 to help patients with life-threatening diseases – take about seven years to be approved, which is no quicker than other drugs, says the study published online Monday by the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Internationally renowned physician Dr. Francisco Contreras believes that the FDA’s approval process is too expensive and slow. He points out that the estimated cost to get a new drug to market through the FDA is about $800 million – making pills that cost pennies to make, so expensive for patients.
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| WHO: |
Dr. Francisco Contreras, director, president and chairman of Oasis of Hope Hospital in Playas de Tijuana, Mexico. He is the co-author of the book, “Hope, Medicine & Healing.” He recently appeared on CNN, MSNBC and the Fox News Channel, discussing Daniel Hauser, the Minnesota teen who initially fled to avoid court-ordered chemotherapy.
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| WHEN: |
By appointment
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| WHERE: |
Via telephone or in studio in Southern California
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| DETAILS: |
Dr. Francisco Contreras has represented Mexico on a mission to Slovakia and worked with the Japanese Medical Association. In the U.S., he has been honored by the Georgia House of Representatives for his work fighting cancer.
He believes that “we cannot buy the cure to cancer. …we need to search for the cause instead of the cure,” shifting the focus away from expensive courses of treatment developed by drug companies.
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| NOTE: |
For more information or to schedule an interview with Dr. Francisco Contreras, contact Steve Yount of A. Larry Ross Communications at 972.267.1111 or [email protected].
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