A cancer research centre in Mississippi has obtained a sizeable grant to bring its lung cancer screening program up to par with the successful model Kentucky has created.
The Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, a charitable arm of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE: BMY), is providing the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMCC) with US$1.8 million. It will be dispersed over a four-year period.
This Quality Implementation of Lung Cancer Screening (QUILS) grant was inspired by Kentucky’s LEADS (Lung Cancer Education, Awareness, Detection, and Survivorship) Collaborative launched 10 years ago. The program has successfully enabled Kentucky to achieve the second-highest rate of lung cancer screening in the U.S.
“The QUILS grant will help equip our state with the necessary resources to increase quality, access and uptake of lung cancer screening thus resulting in a stage shift that saves lives,” Dr. Jonathan Hontzas, director of the lung cancer screening program, said in a news release.
Only 10 per cent eligible patients in Mississippi are screened for the respiratory disease — a problem that the Bristol Myers and the university aim to solve. Lung cancer is fatal for about 1,800 state residents every year.
“We hope to replicate the results seen with this program in Kentucky and make Mississippi a leader in the use of lung cancer screening to save lives,” Dr. Pierre de Delva, a thoracic surgeon at UMMC and chair of the Mississippi Lung Cancer Roundtable, said.
The lung cancer survival rate is Mississippi is well below the national average. It is approximately 5.2 per lower than other American states. African American residents have a 5 per cent lower rate of early-stage diagnosis than caucasians.
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Not the only funding provided by Bristol Myers
Earlier this month, the company’s charitable division gave the University of Kentucky’s Markey Cancer Center US$6.8 million.
This funding is intended to help Kentucky replicate its lung cancer screening success in Mississippi and Nevada — two states that need it the most.
Nevada has one of the lowest screening rates in the country at only 1.3 per cent of the eligible population. The rate of diagnoses in the state is quite high too at approximately 53.6 cases per 100,000 people. Nevada currently sits in spot number 14 out of 50 for its number of cases.
In addition to success with screening logistics and implementation, Kentucky-based companies have been leading the way with lung cancer screening tech innovation too, like Breath Diagnostics Inc. The state will also soon be home to one of the most advanced and comprehensive cancer care centres in the world.
That is the future home of University of Kentucky’s Markey Cancer Center — a US$781 million dollar project that is expected to be completed by 2027.
Lung cancer accounts for approximately 20.4 per cent of all cancer deaths in the U.S. Smoking is the leading cause at about 85 per cent of cases. Meanwhile, the naturally occurring radioactive gas Radon is currently responsible for 21,000 deaths in the country each year — one of the other leading causes.
rowan@mugglehead.com
