Grant Applications Available for Cancer Patients, Their Families
Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D) is accepting applications for grants to benefit cancer patients or their families in California, according to the Cypresfunds.net Web site. The grants will be paid from the Taxol Settlement Fund, which resulted from a suit filed by state attorneys general alleging that the company illegally delayed generic competition for cancer drug Taxol (Cypresfunds.net Web site).
Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2003 agreed to pay $55 million to all 50 states and some U.S. territories as part of the settlement. Under the settlement, about $12 million will be earmarked for "direct compensation" to people who bought Taxol between Jan. 1, 1999, and Feb. 28, 2003; more than $37 million will be distributed to 50 states, Puerto Rico and U.S. territories; and $7.6 million worth of Taxol will be distributed to DEA-approved health care facilities (California Healthline, 4/25/03).
Attorneys general from California and other states filed the suit.
Not-for-profit organizations and public agencies are eligible for the grants. The application deadline is April 4 (Cypresfunds.net Web site).