ANDREA SLOAN, an ovarian cancer patient whose efforts to get access to a BioMarin drug attracted national media attention, died from complications of pneumonia Jan. 1 (The Cancer Letter, Nov. 8, 2013). Sloan, an Austin attorney, was 45.
In the absence of the federal funding, cancer research will be leaning on private funders. But few private funders have the freedom to ask fundamental questions—questions whose answers may not have an immediate clinical impact but can dramatically advance scientific knowledge.
