On April 11, the nonprofit Friends of Cancer Research and the University of Michigan (U-M) Comprehensive Cancer Center hosted a town hall meeting on what the most promising new developments in cancer prevention and detection research will mean for the public.

The guest panel, moderated by Susan Dentzer of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS-TV, included the Hon. John Dingell (D-MI); NCI Director Dr. John E. Niederhuber; FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach; U-M Cancer Center Director Dr. Max Wicha; Dr. Stephen Gruber, director of the Cancer Genetics Clinic at U-M; Dr. Dean Brenner, professor of pharmacology and internal medicine at the U-M School of Medicine; Dr. Joseph Purvis of the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca; and Ruth Freedman, a long-term breast cancer survivor and volunteer patient counselor at U-M Cancer Center.

Discussion topics ranged from recent findings on how cancer develops and how it may be prevented to how this information may influence clinical trial design, FDA regulation of new products that can prevent and detect cancer, postmarket surveillance, and the financial and other barriers affecting progress in these areas.

A videocast of the meeting is available online at: http://ummedia02.rs.itd.umich.edu/cccmc041107.