NEW CANAAN, Conn., Jan. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), the world’s leading private funder of multiple myeloma research, today announced that it awarded more than $8 million in research grants and funding to the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC) in 2005. The MMRF is proud to direct an outstanding 95 percent 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 2005 was pleased to offer highly competitive research grants through three new research programs -- Translational Research Awards, Drug Screening Library Awards, and Therapeutic Targets Awards. Thirty five research grants, totaling $3.5 million, which are at the forefront of scientific novelty and significance, were awarded to investigators from 31 institutions worldwide.
“The MMRF is extremely proud to support innovative research efforts that will result in new treatment options for patients. In 2005, the MMRF funded 15 different therapeutic approaches through its research grants program, which underscores the MMRF’s continued commitment to advancing new and improved treatments for multiple myeloma and to discovering a cure for this disease,” said Anne Quinn Young, Program Director of the MMRF.
The MMRF awarded the following research grants in 2005:
Translational Research Awards: The Translational Research Awards were developed to advance the science of pre-clinical validation in multiple myeloma. Robust pre-clinical validation is an important step in developing novel and combination treatments for multiple myeloma. In 2005, the MMRF awarded six Translational Research Awards, totaling $600,000, to seven institutions.
Drug Library Screening Awards: The Drug Library Screening Awards were developed to support efforts to screen a library of FDA-approved drugs and other existing compounds against known multiple myeloma targets. Findings from these efforts will help determine if any existing therapeutic classes of compounds show activity against multiple myeloma-an important step in developing currently available drugs into new treatments for multiple myeloma. In 2005, the MMRF awarded three Drug Library Screening Awards, totaling $300,000, to three research institutions.
Therapeutic Targets Awards: The Therapeutics Targets Awards were developed to support researchers in the identification, validation, and prioritization of new druggable targets for multiple myeloma-an important step in developing novel therapies that effectively treat the disease. In 2005, the MMRF awarded three Therapeutic Targets Awards, totaling $400,000, to three institutions.
MMRF Senior Research Award: The MMRF Senior Research Awards provides a one-year $100,000 grant to investigators who have been working in blood cancer research for a minimum of five years. In 2005, the MMRF awarded a total of $1.7 million in Senior Research Awards to 17 grantees.
MMRF Fellows Awards: The MMRF Fellows Award provides a one-year $50,000 grant to researchers just entering the field of multiple myeloma and working under the supervision of a research sponsor. In 2005, the MMRF awarded a total of $450,000 in Fellows Awards to nine grantees.
All research grants were awarded following the same stringent peer-review process the National Cancer Institute uses for its own 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.
To date, the MMRF has raised nearly $55 million to support more than 130 research institutions in more than 70 countries worldwide. Full abstracts of the MMRF’s 2005 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 cancers. 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 $55 million to fund more than 130 research grants at more than 70 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 http://www.multiplemyeloma.org.
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
CONTACT: Anne Quinn Young of Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation,+1-203-652-0212, quinnyounga@themmrf.org; or Krista Richardson ofFleishman-Hillard for Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation,+1-212-453-2412, richardk@fleishman.com
