The following is a press release from the office of Rep. Leonard Lance, NJ-07.

Congressman Leonard Lance, NJ-07, has announced that President Barack Obama has signed into law Lance's cancer research bill to coordinate research for cancers that have the lowest survival rates.

Lance’s bipartisan cancer research measure — the “Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act” — was part of the fiscal year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act signed into law by the President.

“I am pleased to announced that this important cancer research measure is now law of the land,” said Lance, a Republican. “The Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act will help improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the deadliest types of cancers.  This new law will hopefully mean a brighter future for patients suffering from recalcitrant cancers and their families."

The Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act prioritizes pancreatic, lung, liver and other recalcitrant cancers to be evaluated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and tasks the NCI in developing a master plan of action for improved treatment methods.  The new law gives the the federal cancer institute 18 months to deliver its master plan of action to Congress.  

Recalcitrant cancers are those that tend to remain dormant and undetected, often for years, only to begin to grow and spread through some yet undiscovered process.

As a member of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, Lance has been one of these leading advocates in Congress in the fight against recalcitrant cancer, including pancreatic cancer which currently the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States with a five-year survival rate of only six percent.