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IMPACT and SELECT
Among Largest Prostate CA Grants Ever
Support Indigent Care in California and
Prevention Research

Abstracted from various news sources: LA Times and CNN
Los Angeles Times Logo CNN.com

Thursday, July 26, 2001 --- IMPACT and SELECT, Great Seal of Californiatwo of the biggest prostate cancer grants ever made, were announced recently and initiated immediately. IMPACT ("IMProving Access Counselling, and Treatment" for men with prostate cancer) is a $50 million grant from the State of California, to be managed by the UCLA Urology Department (Mark Litwin, M.D., project director). SELECT ("SELenium and Vitamin E UCLA Department of UrologyCancer Prevention Trial") is an even larger grant, funded by the National Cancer Institute, aiming to determine whether selenium and vitamin E can prevent prostate cancer in men at risk. The SELECT award is being administered via the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG), Charles Coltman, M.D., director.

The prime beneficiaries of the huge government grants will be indigent men in California (IMPACT) and men at risk of prostate cancer across the nation (SELECT). IMPACT will provide prostate cancer treatment for men who do not have health insurance or Impact - Improving Access, Counseling and Treatmentany other way to pay for prostate cancer treatment. As many as 3.5 million men in California would fulfill the financial criteria for this aid. According to Dr. Litwin, this program is the largest of its kind nationwide, and it may emerge as a model for other states to follow. Information about IMPACT is available online at http://www.california-impact.org, or by phone at 1-800-409-UCLA.

The SELECT trial, which is the largest prostate cancer prevention trial ever organized, will be conducted at participating SWOG institutions throughout the U.S. and Canada. The study will involve 32,400 healthy volunteer men at more than 400 sites and will take up to 12 years to complete. The volunteers will be assigned randomly to one of four groups -- one getting selenium and a placebo, Select - Cancer Prevention Trialone getting vitamin E and a placebo, one getting both selenium and vitamin E, and a final group getting only two placebos. Selenium and Vitamin E are anti-oxidants which, theoretically, could protect cells against oxidative damage that can lead to malignant degeneration. Information about SELECT is available online at http://www.crab.org/select or via the NCI phone hotline 1-800-4CANCER.

National Cancer InstituteThe above grants are reflective of a growing awareness of 'Men's Health Issues', prostate cancer being one of the most important. No one has advanced this cause more than Senator Robert Dole (R-KA), himself a long-term prostate cancer survivor, who 'went public' early-on with his disease and who became a leading advocate for increasing government funding of prostate cancer.



IMPACT Links

SELECT Links

L.A. Times Story, July 12, 2001

CNN Story, July 25, 2001

IMPACT homepage

SELECT Trial Homepage

UCLA Press Release

News Release from NCI

 

Video Clip from NCI

 

Southwest Oncology Group

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