Lawmakers advance Casey DeSantis-backed cancer research changes, add more funding

Casey DeSantis.

First Lady Casey DeSantis’ push to continue to bolster the state’s effort to combat cancer appears poised to get added funding and new ground rules on how those dollars should be spent.

Budget negotiators earlier this week agreed to direct an additional $40 million toward the Florida Cancer Innovation Fund. The Senate also passed a bill (SB 7072) championed by DeSantis, a cancer survivor.

Sponsored by Sen. Gayle Harrell, SB 7072 essentially codifies into law the “Cancer Connect Collaborative” first announced by DeSantis about a year ago.

The legislation establishes a six-member collaborative and directs it to review all Florida Cancer Innovation Grant applications and to advise the Department of Health (DOH) on how the grants should be awarded. The state Surgeon General would serve as Chair of the six-member collaborative but would not be a voting member. The other five members would be appointed by the Governor, the House Speaker and the Senate President.

The Governor has three appointments, one of which must be used to select a Florida resident and cancer survivor. The other appointees must have experience treating cancer, researching cancer, developing cancer treatments or managing a cancer hospital.

The Florida Cancer Innovation Fund was established by the Legislature last year and appropriated $20 million to fund innovative research in cancer care and treatment at Florida-based institutions. The First Lady and Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the first innovation grant recipients earlier this month.

It is one of four programs the Legislature funds to support cancer research. The other three programs are the William G. “Bill” Bankhead Jr. and David Coley Cancer Research Program (the Bankhead-Coley program), the Live Like Bella Initiative-Pediatric Cancer Research Program, and the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program, formerly known as the Florida Consortium of National Cancer Institute Centers Program.

Legislators renamed the program after the First Lady after she announced in October 2021 that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She was 41 years old at the time and her three children were under the age of 5.

Following her diagnosis, the Governor pushed lawmakers to increase cancer research funding by $37 million and included the request in his Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget. Lawmakers agreed, increasing the funding to $100 million and renaming the fund in the First Lady’s honor. Lawmakers added another $27.5 million to the program the following year.

In all, the Legislature in Fiscal Year 2023-24 appropriated $160.5 million to the four cancer programs, with the majority of the funds ($127.5 million) directed to the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program. It was Initially established in 2014 to enhance the quality and competitiveness of cancer care in Florida, expand biomedical research strategy and capitalize on potential educational opportunities available to students.

Initially, only Florida-based cancer centers recognized by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers, cancer centers, and cancer centers working toward achieving NCI designation qualified for the money. That included H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, the University of Florida (UF) Health Shands Cancer Hospital Cancer Center and the University of Miami (UM) Sylvester Cancer Center.

But the Legislature last year struck the requirement that the facility be Florida-based, which allowed Mayo Clinic Cancer Center in Jacksonville to qualify for the funds, the distribution of which is established by a formula in statutes.

While SB 7072 doesn’t alter the distribution of the $127.5 million in funding, the bill does direct the six-member Cancer Connect Collaborative to develop a long-range comprehensive plan for the program.

Meanwhile, Republican Rep. Sam Garrison, the House health care budget chief, said he was “happy” with the agreement House and Senate health care conferees reached earlier this week to add $40 million to the Florida Cancer Innovation Fund.

“It’s a positive development for the state and a top priority for the First Lady so I am happy to see that,” Garrison said.