NEW CANAAN, Conn., Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), the world’s largest private funder of myeloma-specific research, today announced that a team of researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is the recipient of its 2004 Collaborative Program Grant. The grant, which provides $1.5 million to researchers over a three-year period, is designed to foster unique collaborations among researchers and institutions to help bring new therapies to clinic quickly.
This Collaborative Program, entitled Development of Molecularly-Based Combination Therapy for Multiple Myeloma is led by Kenneth C. Anderson, MD, Kraft Family Professor of Medicine and the Director of the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The translational research program consists of three core projects entitled Genomic and proteomic profiles of response versus resistance to combination therapies; Targeting novel signal transduction pathways in myeloma cells and their bone marrow microenvironment; and Defining strategies to overcome in vivo drug resistance. These studies will provide the preclinical basis for designing Phase I collaborative clinical trials evaluating combinations of novel agents.
According to Dr. Anderson, “This grant offers us an unprecedented opportunity to rationally combine novel promising agents to enhance killing of myeloma cells on the one hand and avoid drug resistance on the other. It is a unique opportunity to partner with the MMRF to develop and test combinations of new treatments which will offer great promise to improve outcome for patients with myeloma.”
MMRF Research Award winners are selected following a rigorous peer-review process by the MMRF’s esteemed Scientific Advisory Board using guidelines established by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Last year, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) approved the MMRF’s research grants program, finding that it meets the same rigorous scientific standards the NCI applies to its own research grant review process. The MMRF is one of nine private, charitable research organizations in the United States to receive approval since the NCI started the program nearly 10 years ago.
Through its grants program, the MMRF supports efforts in the most promising areas of myeloma research, including targeted therapeutics, immune therapy, and genomics. In the past, this funding has brought scientific breakthroughs from the laboratory to the clinic and has often led to early clinical trials in multiple myeloma. Most notably, the MMRF has contributed funding to the development of more than 10 different compounds that are now in development or are commercially available to treat multiple myeloma.
“As the world’s leading private funder of myeloma-specific research, the MMRF has provided nearly $20 million in funding to find an cure for this fatal disease,” said Anne Quinn Young, MPH, Program Director of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. “We are confident that this research will lead to a greater understanding of optimal treatment combinations that have increased efficacy, prevent drug resistance, and ultimately improve outcomes for patients.”
About the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
Founded in 1998, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation is the largest non-profit foundation dedicated to the single mission of accelerating the search for a cure for multiple myeloma. The Foundation has quickly become the world’s number-one private funder of myeloma-specific research, supporting innovative efforts in the most promising areas of cancer research, including targeted therapies, immune therapy and genomics. To date, the MMRF has raised more than $35 million and has funded more than 50 research institutions around the globe, bringing scientific breakthroughs from the laboratory to the clinic and laying the groundwork for promising, new treatments.
The MMRF is committed to educating and informing patients, caregivers and physicians of the latest therapeutic approaches in multiple myeloma through symposia, teleconferences, and its cutting-edge website. To learn more about the MMRF and its programs, call 203-972-1250 or visit http://www.multiplemyeloma.org/.
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
CONTACT: Anne Quinn Young, +1-203-652-0212, quinnyounga@themmrf.org
Web site: http://www.multiplemyeloma.org/