Topeka ? Kansas leaders are at odds over how to eliminate the state budget deficit, but they agree on continued funding for an effort to get the National Cancer Institute designation for the Kansas University Cancer Center.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has included another annual appropriation of $5 million for support of the KU Cancer Center, and legislative leaders also have voiced support of that line item.

On Tuesday, Sebelius, Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson, KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway and Kansas State President Jon Wefald will have a news conference to discuss cancer research opportunities.

Earlier this week, the KU Cancer Center announced a partnership with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to conduct clinical trials of drug discoveries made by LLS-funded researchers.

The move represented the first academic partner in the LLS’s Therapy Acceleration Program, which supports moving blood cancer therapies into development.

LLS will initially provide up to $1.5 million to KU’s Office of Therapeutics, Discovery and Development, officials said.

“By leveraging the capabilities and strengths the University of Kansas has in place, this partnership brings critically needed skills to the LLS research pipeline and expedites the advancement of new drugs to treat blood cancer patients,” said Louis DeGennaro, LLS’s chief scientific officer.

“The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a world-renowned cancer organization, and we are honored to be affiliated with such a prestigious and groundbreaking program,” said Dr. Roy Jensen, director of the KU Cancer Center.

“This partnership is a tremendous opportunity for us to make a significant impact on blood cancers, by leveraging the extraordinary capabilities we have in drug discovery, delivery and development. It will also assist us in our quest to achieve National Cancer Institute designation,” Jensen said.