Where does all of the money for cancer & aids research go, I will never give to those charities.Billions waist

I will admit most of it doesn't seem to get to the patients. And I'm very choosy about whom I donate to. The American cancer Society for example, even though it is quite high profile, provides very little to patients and I won't even consider them. They also use images of children with cancer in their ads, but do nothing to advocate pediatric services or research. That turns my stomach,
One thing to consider is pediatric research, as it has a twofold benefit-
Pediatric cancer research is woefully unfunded, but the fact is,
new therapies developed for childhood cancers end up being the very therapies that most benefit adult cancer patients. For example, the most frequently used drug in breast cancer treatment was initially used against common childhood leukemia (A.L.L).
During my daughter's illness, we found out our insurance would cover her bone marrow transplant, but NOT the donor search. If you can't screen, test and counsel prospective donors, the transplant coverage isn't going to do much for you! It was a very desperate moment in our lives.
The children's cancer fund (out of Missouri) DID cover it though, all with money donated. And we didn't fill out an application, I guess the doctors do it.

Excepting St. Jude's, which uses donations to make more television pleas and pay outrageous physician's salaries while providing little patient care (which I know from personal experience and they are of the same ilk as ACA) check into children's foundations.

Much as I hate to say it, the vast majority of money goes to pay the outrageous salaries of research physicians. Contributions to the charity buys physicians mansions, luxury cars, and trophy brides. It's very sad.

I agree. I like to give directly to persons who need help and especially to animal orgs

We all wonder about that. After all these years and still no cure? Where in hell does all the money go apart from outrageous salaries and "conferences" that cost a fortune and do no good at all. A waste is putting it mildly.

Well, there is a lot of over head involved with those orgs. I mean, they are great organizations, but just because they are non profit does NOT mean that people dont get paid. THEY DO.

Second, any idea how much it costs to pay for the 10-30 years of research every med and protocol goes through before it is widely available? THere has to be some means of recouping that cost other wise there would be no research. That takes a LOT of money.

Have you not heard about the increasing life expectancy (or declining mortality rates) in many cancers in the news lately? I'm not talking rare cancers, I'm talking major common cancers like colon and breast.

Those dollars donated go to VERY expensive, time-consuming research- most of which unfortunately proves not to be successful in the human arena. This is the way ALL research goes, whether in cancer or how to make the next Twix bar better- trial and error. Advances are being made, let me give you a few examples besides breast and colon:

1) Multiple myeloma: Average life expectancy was 3 yrs just 10 yrs ago. With 3 or more new therapies and the application of stem cell transplant the life expectancy is difficult to calculate now as it is changing so fast. I have patients out 10 yrs now, unheard of before.

2) Chronic myeloid leukemia: Again average survival about 3 yrs just 10 yrs ago; with a new class of discovered drugs (tyrosine kinase inhibitors), survival is again likely tripled or better; again many patients alive 10 yrs now with that disease, all dead of transformation to acute leukemia before.

Now, much progress needs to be made. Research funding is progressively being cut by our government, and private funding is faring little better. Grant dollars are hard fought over. No researchers are getting rich on these grant monies (they would be truly laughing to hear talk about mansions and trophy wives) unless they are doing something illegal. Most work tirelessly to eradicate this disease.

Progress is being made slowly, but at a faster pace than ever before. It will never lead to the ONE breakthrough. Cancer is not ONE beast, but many different ones. Just like there will NEVER be ONE antibiotic to kill all infections, there will NEVER be ONE cure for cancer.

I disagree with you completely, it is not billions wasted, and every single cancer survivor (they are not rare you know) would be happy to stand up and say so.

God bless, best wishes