II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2375 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to advance medical research and 

treatments into pediatric cancers, ensure patients and families have access to the current treatments and information regarding pediatric cancers, establish a population-based national childhood cancer database, 

and promote public awareness of pediatric cancers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 7, 2006 

Mr. COLEMAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to advance medical 

research and treatments into pediatric cancers, ensure 

patients and families have access to the current treatments and information regarding pediatric cancers, establish a population-based national childhood cancer 

database, and promote public awareness of pediatric cancers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Conquer Childhood 

5 Cancer Act of 2006’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) Cancer kills more children than any other 

4 disease. 

5 (2) Each year cancer kills more children be6 tween 1 and 20 years of age than asthma, diabetes, 

7 cystic fibrosis, and AIDS, combined. 

8 (3) Every year, over 12,500 young people are 

9 diagnosed with cancer. 

10 (4) Each year about 2,300 children and teen11 agers die from cancer. 

12 (5) One in every 330 Americans develops cancer 

13 before age 20. 

14 (6) Some forms of childhood cancer have proven 

15 to be so resistant that even in spite of the great re16 search strides made, most of those children die. Up 

17 to 75 percent of the children with cancer can now 

18 be cured. 

19 (7) The causes of most childhood cancers are 

20 not yet known. 

21 (8) Childhood cancers are mostly those of the 

22 white blood cells (leukemias), brain, bone, the lym23 phatic system, and tumors of the muscles, kidneys, 

24 and nervous system. Each of these behaves dif25 ferently, but all are characterized by an uncontrolled 

26 proliferation of abnormal cells. 


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1 (9) Eighty percent of the children who are diag2 nosed with cancer have disease which has already 

3 spread to distant sites in the body. 

4 (10) Ninety percent of children with a form of 

5 pediatric cancer are treated at one of the more than 

6 200 Children’s Oncology Group member institutions 

7 throughout the United States. 

8 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

9 It is the purpose of this Act to authorize appropria10 tions to— 

11 (1) encourage and expand the support for bio12 medical research programs of the existing National 

13 Cancer Institute-designated multi-center national in14 frastructure for pediatric cancer research; 

15 (2) establish a population-based national child16 hood cancer database (the Children’s Cancer Re17 search Network) to evaluate incidence trends of 

18 childhood cancers and to enable the investigations of 

19 genetic epidemiology in order to identify causes to 

20 aid in development of prevention strategies; 

21 (3) provide informational services to patients 

22 and families affected by childhood cancer; 

23 (4) support the development, construction and 

24 operation of a comprehensive online public informaVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:51 Mar 10, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2375.IS S2375

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1 tion system on childhood cancers and services avail2 able to families; and 

3 (5) establish a fellowship program in pediatric 

4 cancer research to foster clinical and translational 

5 research career development in pediatric oncologists 

6 in the early stages of their career. 

7 SEC. 4. PEDIATRIC CANCER RESEARCH AND AWARENESS. 

8 Subpart 1 of part C of title IV of the Public Health 

9 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 285 et seq.) is amended by adding 

10 at the end thereof the following: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 417E. PEDIATRIC CANCER RESEARCH AND AWARE12 NESS. 

13 ‘‘(a) PEDIATRIC CANCER RESEARCH.— 

14 ‘‘(1) SPECIAL PROGRAMS OF RESEARCH EXCEL15 LENCE IN PEDIATRIC CANCERS.—The Director of 

16 NIH, acting through the National Cancer Institute, 

17 shall establish special programs of research excel18 lence in the area of pediatric cancers. Such pro19 grams shall demonstrate a balanced approach to re20 search cause, prognosis, prevention, diagnosis, and 

21 treatment of pediatric cancers that foster translation 

22 of basic research findings into innovative interven23 tions applied to patients. 

24 ‘‘(2) FELLOWSHIP OF EXCELLENCE IN PEDI25 ATRIC CANCER RESEARCH.—The Secretary shall deVerDate Aug 31 2005 06:26 Mar 08, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2375.IS S2375

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1 velop a grant mechanism for the establishment, in 

2 cooperation with the National Cancer Institute-sup3 ported pediatric cancer clinical trial groups, of Re4 search Fellowships in Pediatric Cancer to support 

5 adequate numbers of pediatric focused clinical and 

6 translational investigators thereby facilitating con7 tinuous momentum of research excellence. 

8 ‘‘(b) NATIONAL CHILDHOOD CANCER REGISTRY.— 

9 The Director of NIH shall award a grant for the operation 

10 of a population-based national childhood cancer database, 

11 the Childhood Cancer Research Network (CCRN), of the 

12 Children’s Oncology Group, in cooperation with the Na13 tional Cancer Institute. 

14 ‘‘(c) PUBLIC AWARENESS OF PEDIATRIC CANCERS

15 AND AVAILABLE TREATMENTS AND RESEARCH.—The 

16 Secretary shall award a grants to recognized childhood 

17 cancer professional and advocacy organizations for the ex18 pansion and widespread implementation of activities to 

19 raise public awareness of currently available information, 

20 treatment, and research with the intent to ensure access 

21 to best available therapies for pediatric cancers. 

22 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

23 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

24 $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007 through 2011. 


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1 Funds appropriated under this section shall remain avail2 able until expended.’’. 

Æ 


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