On August 19, 2005, WLF filed comments with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency that oversees the Medicare program, asking the agency to withdraw its plan to allow the exclusion of the lung cancer drug Iressa from drug plans under the new “Part D” prescription drug benefit. WLF’s comments are in response to a CMS decision to exclude Iressa from a requirement that carriers offering coverage under the new benefit program must include in their formularies “all or substantially all” cancer drugs. WLF noted that Iressa is believed to represent the best available care for many lung cancer patients in the Medicare population for whom other therapies have failed. WLF filed the comments on behalf of itself, the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs, the Lorenzen Cancer Foundation, and the Lung Cancer Alliance.