Farber Heads New Research Program

Dr. Sidney Farber, professor of Pathology, will direct one phase of the government program to test 2000 drugs against cancer, the Public Health Service announced yesterday.

The Cancer Research Institute in Boston, which is under Farber's direction, was chosen as one of five research centers to carry out the plan before July. The nationwide research program will proceed in a "hit-or-miss" screening of drugs, Farber explained, by using them in experiments with mice and tumors removed from the human body.

Farber, chairman of the Cancer Chemotherapy National Committee, said that 100,000 industrial compounds remain to be tested in the search for a cancer cure.

Stepup in the government's cancer research program, Farber stated, is a result of President Eisenhower's recent request to Congress for increased appropriations in the field. The largest sum requested by Eisenhower was intended for cancer research.