Grant will fund cancer research in Delaware and surrounding area

More than $4.5 million will help doctors in Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland develop better methods of fighting cancer.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will provide $4.6 million in funding over the next four years for the Community Clinical Oncology Program.  The CCOP is a network that connects hospitals in the region for testing methods of fighting cancer.  

Dr. Nicholas Petrelli is the medical director at Christiana Hospital’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center.  He says the clinical trials supported by the CCOP are making a difference in Delaware’s fight against cancer.  “Whether it’s treatment, whether it’s prevention programs, or whether it’s cancer control, the last three to four decades, any of the progress that we’ve made in cancer care has come from [National Cancer Institute] clinical trials.”  Petrelli says it’s made a dramatic difference in the outcomes for Delaware cancer patients.  “In less than a decade in the state of Delaware, the cancer mortality rate has been dropping twice as fast as the national rate.”  

The money will help clinical trials in the CCOP at hospitals including Christiana Care, Nemours/A.I. duPont Hospital for Children, Beebe Medical Center, Union Hospital in Elkton, Md., and Cooper University Hospital in Voorhees, NJ.  The money will spread out over four years with more than $1.5 million per year.