News You Ought to Know

Collaborative institute aims to speed cancer drug creation

(AP) – A project to speed development of cancer-fighting drugs that harness the immune system has academic and drug industry researchers collaborating and sharing their findings like never before. The newly created Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy is being funded by a $250 million grant from Sean Parker, the co-founder of the file-sharing site Napster and Facebook’s first president. It brings together partners at six top academic cancer centers, dozens of drugmakers and other groups. “Everybody knows that we need to move forward and change the model” for cancer research, Jeffrey Bluestone, an immunology researcher and the institute’s CEO, told The Associated Press Tuesday.

Paul Ryan is not running for president _ or passing a budget

(AP) – House Speaker Paul Ryan’s national stature is such that he had to call a news conference to deny he wants to be president. Back on Capitol Hill, he’s about to blow through a statutory deadline to pass an annual budget, a major embarrassment for him and House Republicans. Under the government’s arcane budget law, the House is supposed to produce a budget by this Friday, April 15. But a tea party revolt over Ryan’s embrace of last year’s bipartisan deal with President Barack Obama to increase spending has left him well short of the votes he needs.