Over the past four years, the budgets for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have flattened. John Niederhuber, M.D., director of the NCI, said at a press briefing a the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago this week that the flat budgets could jeopardize advances in oncology.

ASCO executive vice-president Allen Lichter, M.D., says a proposal for next year's budget projects similar numbers for the agencies. Last year, the NCI was unable to fund nearly 180 investigator-initiated grant applications. Community clinical oncology programs have been cut by approximately $12 million.

The lack of increase compares to the previous period from 1998 to 2003, in which the NIH saw a doubling of its budget. ASCO is calling for a 6.7 percent increase in NIH funding in 2008 to undo the flat funding trend.