North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System and Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.) Laboratory have agreed on a $120 million “joint, long-term investment,” much of which will be used to create a new clinical cancer research unit at the system's Cancer Institute in Lake Success, N.Y.
Financial terms of the agreement and the source of the $120 million were not disclosed, though it was noted that the funding would be used to support early-phase clinical studies for new cancer therapies and to recruit and train clinician-scientists.
The agreement builds upon the Great Neck, N.Y.-based system's recent $175 million investment to open and expand cancer treatment centers in New York and Long Island, as well as the $84 million expansion of its Cancer Institute. The system is also building a $34 million cancer outpatient center in Bay Shore, N.Y.
The agreement calls for training clinician-scientists to perform “preclinical cancer research” and to conduct early-stage human clinical trials, according to a health system news release. Positive findings will lead to the development of advanced trials at North Shore-LIJ and other medical centers.
“The unique integration of research scientists, clinical translational researchers and cancer clinicians promises to speed the advance of novel cancer diagnostics and therapeutics to patients in the region," Bruce Stillman, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's president and CEO, said in the release.
The laboratory has been a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center since 1987 and conducts more than $50 million worth of cancer research annually.
Michael Dowling, North Shore-LIJ's president and CEO, said in the release that making Cold Spring's “promising pre-clinical research” available to the 200 academic oncologists and clinicians at the North Shore-LIJ Cancer Institute will transform treatment throughout the New York area.
News of the affiliation was just one of several recent developments in cancer research and treatment. Others include the naming of Dr. Douglas Lowy as acting director of the National Cancer Institute, and expansion of an existing cancer-research affiliation to include four new members between Ohio State University in Columbus and Tampa, Fla.-based Moffitt Cancer Center.
The affiliation, formed last May and known as the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network, has grown to include Duarte, Calif.-based City of Hope, and cancer centers at the Universities of Colorado, New Mexico and Virginia.
Also, the Charles C. Gates Biomanufacturing Facility will open April 6 at the University of Colorado's Aurora campus. The 14,000-square-foot facility will be dedicated to producing cell- and protein-based therapies for cancer, macular degeneration and skin ailments.
