NORWALK, Conn., Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), the world’s leading private funder of multiple myeloma research, today announced that it awarded more than $9.5 million in research grants and funding to academic centers, biotech companies and the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC) in 2006. The MMRF is proud to direct an outstanding 95% of funds raised to research and related programming, making the MMRF’s research grants program one of the nation’s most effective and efficient.
In addition to its traditional Senior Research Awards and Fellows Awards, the MMRF in 2006 offered highly competitive research grants through four new research programs: Validation of Novel Combinations, Compound Validation, Cell Line Development and LEAD. Thirty-five research grants, totaling $6.6 million, which are at the forefront of scientific novelty and significance, were awarded to investigators from 20 institutions worldwide. Funding for the MMRC totaled nearly $4 million supporting the Genomics Initiative, pre- clinical validation of potential therapeutics and several exciting clinical trials.
“The MMRF is extremely proud to support innovative research efforts that will hopefully result in new treatment options for patients,” said Stephanie Berkowitz, PhD, Research Manager of the MMRF. “In 2006, the MMRF research grants programs funded 30 different therapeutic approaches, which underscores the organization’s continued commitment to accelerating the search for a cure for multiple myeloma by advancing new and improved treatments.”
The MMRF awarded the following research grants in 2006:
Validation of Novel Combinations: Novel combination therapies and the sequencing of these therapies hold tremendous promise in treating multiple myeloma. The Validation of Novel Combinations Awards were developed to support the testing of several targeted therapeutic agents - either novel or currently available compounds - in innovative, rationally designed combinations and sequences. The MMRF awarded seven Validation of Novel Combinations Awards, totaling $700,000, to seven institutions.
Compound Validation: With a multitude of therapeutic options under investigation for multiple myeloma, the ability to identify those that show the most potential in treating the disease is of critical importance. One of the most effective and efficient ways to do this is through preclinical validation. The Compound Validation Awards were developed to advance the science of preclinical validation in multiple myeloma. The MMRF awarded three Compound Validation Awards, totaling $500,000, to five research institutions.
Cell Line Development: Multiple myeloma cell lines are an important research tool for validating potential therapeutics for multiple myeloma. However, very few cell lines used today truly mimic human disease. The Cell Line Development Awards were created to support efforts to develop new cell lines that are more disease-representative. The MMRF awarded two Cell Line Development Awards, totaling $200,000, to two institutions.
LEAD: Leveraging Existing myeloma targets to Accelerate Drug discovery and development (LEAD), the latest example of several field-innovating programs launched by the MMRF, was created to bring together and foster collaboration between academic myeloma experts with experts in the biotechnology industry to accelerate drug discovery and development for new treatments for myeloma. The marriage of these two fields of experts will bring new therapeutic entities to testing in preclinical studies in myeloma more rapidly. The MMRF pledged up to $6 million USD to support multiple projects in this multi-year initiative. The MMRF awarded two LEAD Awards, totaling $2,400,000, to two companies.
MMRF Senior Research Award: The MMRF Senior Research Awards provides a 2-year, $200,000 grant to investigators who have been working in blood cancer research for a minimum of 5 years. The MMRF awarded a total of $1.9 million in Senior Research Awards to 10 grant recipients.
MMRF Fellows Awards: The MMRF Fellows Award provided a one-year $75,000 grant to researchers just entering the field of multiple myeloma who are working under the supervision of a research sponsor. The MMRF awarded a total of $600,000 in Fellows Awards to eight grant recipients.
All research grants were awarded following the same stringent peer-review process the National Cancer Institute uses for its grantmaking. The MMRF is proud to be one of only nine private charitable research organizations in the United States that has received approval from the National Cancer Institute for its research grants program. Full abstracts of the MMRF’s 2006 research awards can be found at http://www.multiplemyeloma.org/research/.
About Multiple Myeloma
Multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the plasma cell, represents one percent of all cancer diagnosis and two percent of all cancer deaths. Despite recent advances in treating multiple myeloma, the five-year survival rate for multiple myeloma is only 32 percent, one of the lowest of all cancer. Approximately 50,000 people in the United States are living with multiple myeloma and an estimated 16,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Although the peak age of onset of multiple myeloma is 65 to 70 years of age, recent statistics suggest that incidence is increasing and at an earlier age.
About the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) was established in 1998 as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization by twin sisters Karen Andrews and Kathy Giusti, a newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patient, with the unique mission of accelerating the search for a cure for multiple myeloma. As the world’s number one funder of myeloma research, the MMRF has raised nearly $70 million to fund more than 215 research grants at more than 75 research institutions around the globe. Currently, the MMRF is funding more than 30 new compounds and approaches - in pre-clinical testing and Phase I, II and III clinical trials - that show promise in treating patients at all stages of the disease. For more information about the MMRF, please visit www.multiplemyeloma.org.
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation 2006 Research Award Grantees Senior Research Award Winners Robert Colman, MD at Temple University-HSC Treatment of Multiple Myeloma with a humanized monoclonal antibody Apollina Goel, PhD at Mayo Clinic Rochester Combination of drugs and radiation for improved therapy of multiple myeloma Larry Kwak, MD, PhD at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Adoptive immunotherapy with donor myeloma-specific T cells Klaus Podar, MD, PhD at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute On the Role of cJun and cAbl in Multiple Myeloma Ya-Wei Qiang, MD, PhD at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Defining role of Wnt signaling in multiple myeloma: therapeutic implication Keith Stewart, MB, ChB at Mayo Clinic Arizona Development of Cyclin D2 Inhibitors for Treatment of Multiple Myeloma Leslie Thompson, PhD at University of California (Irvine) Identifying therapeutic targets for FGFR3-associated MM Suzanne Trudel, MD at University Health Network Characterization of Phospho-Protein Networks in Myeloma Frits van Rhee, MD, PhD at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences KIR-Ligand Mismatched Natural Killer Cell Therapy for Myeloma Shmuel Yaccoby, PhD at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Role of SLRPs in the anti-myeloma response of osteoblasts Fellows Award Winners Larry Anderson, MD, PhD at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Identification of Novel Targets for T-Cell Immunotherapy of Myeloma Qing Chen, PhD at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Targeting the SCF/skp2 pathway for the treatment of multiple myeloma Wee Chng, MD at Mayo Clinic Arizona Genomic and Functional characterization of p53 pathway in MM Douglas Feldman, PhD at Stanford University Therapeutic Targeting of Ire1/XBP-1 in Malignant B Cells Tanyel Kiziltepe-Bilgicer, PhD at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Effects of JS-K, a GST based NO generator, on MM: therapeutic implications Jianfei Qian, DVM, PhD at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Identifying DKK1 as a novel and widely expressed tumor antigen in MM Michael Sebag, MD, PhD at Mayo Clinic Arizona Transgenic mouse model of drug development for multiple myeloma Jennifer Tibodeau, PhD at Mayo Clinic Rochester Novel Natural Products with Potential Therapeutic Uses in Multiple Myeloma Validation of Novel Combinations Awards Ivan Borrello, MD at Johns Hopkins University Combining Tumor Vaccines with Adoptive Immunotherapy in Myeloma Chauhan Dharminder, PhD at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Combination Therapies Targeting Proteasome, Mitochondria and NF-kappa B William Dalton, PhD, MD at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute Combined Therapy of Bortezomib and BMS-345541 in a Myeloma Mouse Model Suzanne Lentzsch, MD, PhD at University of Pittsburgh Synergistic Effects of PS-342 (Velcade) and BX471 on Multiple Myeloma Sagar Lonial, MD at Emory University Synergistic Combinations of Targeted Agents for Myeloma Constantine Mitsiades, MD, PhD at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Multi-Targeted Kinase Inhibition-Based Combination Strategies in Myeloma Jesus San Miguel, MD, PhD at Centro De Investigacion del Cancer Synergy of Aplidin and LBH589 with Conventional Anti-myeloma Treatments Compound Validation Award Winners Jin Chen, PhD at Emory University Targeting p90RSK by a highly specific inhibitor fmk in multiple myeloma Hearn Jay Cho, MD, PhD at NYU School of Medicine Type I MAGE mRNA-pulsed dendritic cell vaccines for multiple myeloma Xiao-Yan Wen, MD, PhD at University Health Network Preclinical Investigation of ABT-737 in Treatment of Multiple Myeloma Shaji Kumar, MD at Mayo Clinic, Rochester Non-Genotoxic activators of p53 as therapy for multiple myeloma James Berenson, MD at The Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research Anti-Pleiotrophin-Mediated Therapy for the Treatment of Multiple Myeloma Cell Line Development Award Winners Diane Jelinek, PhD at Mayo Clinic, Rochester Establishment of a Panel of Diverse Human Myeloma Cell Lines Michael Kuehl, MD at The National Cancer Institute & Leif Bergsagel, MD at Mayo Clinic, Arizona Generation of cell lines from primary multiple myeloma and MGUS tumors LEAD Award Winners Semafore Pharmaceuticals Phase I Clinical Evaluation of the PI3 Kinase Inhibitor SF1126 in Multiple Myeloma ProChon Biotech Therapeutic intervention in myeloma: The anti-FGFR3 antibody PRO-001 is cytotoxic to t(4;14) multiple myeloma cells
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
CONTACT: Vicki Vlastaris, +1-646-437-4873, or vvlastaris@gsw-w.com, forMMRF
