The program has taken an innovative approach to fighting breast cancer by selecting breast cancer survivors as active participants on voting panels, which decide what studies are funded and the general direction of the program.

CNN: A call to arms in the fight against breast cancer

"Partial-breast irradiation is a very promising approach, but there's a lot we have to learn, " says Lori Pierce, professor of radiation oncology at University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

WSJ: New Scrutiny for Popular Breast-Cancer Treatment

Zeneca's approach got a boost in late 1998 with the approval of Herceptin , a Genentech drug for advanced breast cancer.

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