NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – The director of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey says a proposed 12-story treatment and research facility needs to be built as soon as possible to keep up with the soaring number of patients diagnosed each year in the state.

Dr. Steven Libutti, who also serves as the senior vice president of oncology services at RWJ/Barnabas Health, made the comment at Tuesday’s meeting at DEVCO offices where he, Mayor Jim Cahill and DEVCO President Chris Paladino unveiled plans to construct a $750 million Cancer Pavilion.

The plan would also call for renovations to the existing Cancer Institute, a bridge connection from the pavilion to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and another bridge connecting the pavilion to the institute.

The Cancer Pavilion would comprise about 510,000 square feet and allow the institute to treat more patients in a state where 50,000 new cases of are diagnosed and 16,000 people die due to each year.