RESEARCH
INVESTMENT
Since its inception in 1949, LLS has invested more than $680 million in
research to find the causes and cures for blood cancers. Our research budget in fiscal year 2009 was
approximately $69 million, including funding for 127 new grants to researchers at academic
institutions and $1.8 million in contracts through the Therapy Acceleration Program. As of June 2009, LLS
was supporting 388 research grants and 9 research contracts in the U.S., Canada, and 11
other countries, with a total commitment of $281 million, including:♦ Leukemia research:
approximately $140 million
♦ Lymphoma research: approximately $109 million ♦ Myeloma research: approximately $32 million RESEARCH PROGRAMS
LLS administers two integrated research funding programs - the Research
Grant Program and the Therapy Acceleration Program - to support our mission: Cure leukemia,
lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and
their families.With advisory input from world-renowned biomedical research experts, LLS supports the entire research continuum relevant to improved outcomes for blood cancer patients, from basic laboratory science to clinical trials of new agents, and from investigator-initiated research to multi-disciplinary academic collaborations and private-sector drug development alliances. Research funding is aimed at effective discovery and development of new therapies for all blood cancer patients who need them. The Research Grant Program provides grant funding to support scientific studies at academic centers around the world, through three grant mechanisms: 1. The Career Development Program
provides stipends to investigators of exceptional promise in the early stages of their careers, helping them to devote
their careers to leukemia, lymphoma and/or myeloma research.
2. The Translational Research Program supports outstanding investigations deemed by our expert advisors most likely to translate basic biomedical discoveries into new, safe and effective treatments, ultimately prolonging and enhancing patients’ lives. 3. The Specialized Center of Research Program encourages multidisciplinary research by teams of leading-edge academic investigators that hastens the discovery and development of better treatments for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma patients. A Center is composed of at least three independent research programs that are integrated and supported by scientific core laboratories. The Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP) is a strategic LLS initiative launched in 2007 with $4 million in seed funding. This program promises to accelerate new and better treatments and clinical tests into preclinical development and clinical trials. Working in concert with academic investigators, medical centers, and companies, TAP is further bridging the gap between discovery and human applications to increase the likelihood that novel, possibly breakthrough, treatments will be made available to patients as soon as possible. TAP encompasses three innovative efforts: 1. The Academic Concierge Division
identifies current LLS-funded research with the greatest clinical promise and provides the funding and support
needed to advance selected projects to the product stage.
2. The Clinical Trial Division partners LLS with certain of the country’s leading clinical trial centers to accelerate the testing of new blood cancer therapies in clinical trials. 3. The Biotechnology Accelerator Division allies LLS with companies to combine scientific and financial resources and accelerate the development of potential therapies which wouldn’t otherwise be prioritized by the company. OUR CRITICAL ROLE
LLS programs accelerate relevant research outcomes by: > Building the research
work-force: Assuring the next round of breakthroughs for blood
cancer patients requires that young scientists and physician/scientists
continue to be encouraged to join the blood cancer research field, especially now that federal research
funding is severely limited.
> Filling a void: Supporting promising research projects - including those that are high-risk or address serious diseases of lower incidence and are less likely to be funded by the government or for-profit companies - can result in advances that happen only because of LLS funding. > Supporting synergy: Large grants and contracts enable scientists in both academia and the private-sector to attack a disease from several vantage points, leading to faster research advances and clinical successes. LLS RESEARCH FUNDING MAKING AN
IMPACT
For more than 50 years, funding from generous donors has
allowed LLS to support promising research. Past advances that have benefited blood cancer patients and
many others include: > Introduction of
multiple-drug therapies that are more effective than treatments with
single anticancer agents.
> Development of stem cell transplantation to treat blood cancer patients who relapse despite the best available therapy. > Description of the specific cellular characteristics that distinguish particular blood cancers (diagnosis); this information helps plan the type and intensity of therapy needed for cure (risk stratification). TARGETED THERAPY RESEARCH
Discovery of the molecular abnormalities that cause blood cancers has
been useful in diagnosis and risk stratification, and for new “targeted drug” development.
LLS-supported investigators have helped advance these molecularly targeted treatments that can kill blood
cancer cells without harming normal cells, and continue to develop cutting-edge treatments
for patients with blood cancers, many of which can also benefit patients with other diseases.
For example:> Gleevec® was
developed and FDA-approved for adults with relapsed/refractory chronic
myeloid leukemia (CML), and is also approved for patients with newly diagnosed
CML, children with CML and for patients with a stomach cancer called GIST. It is now being
used to treat some (Phildelphia chromosome positive) acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL) patients
and being tested in other cancers, including advanced breast cancer and certain forms of
nerve and thyroid cancers. Other related drugs, Sprycel® and Tasigna®, have been developed and
approved for patients who do not benefit from Gleevec and are being tested in a wide range of
cancers.
> Velcade®, Thalidomid® and Revlimid® were developed and approved for patients with myeloma and are now helping patients with some forms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and being tested for patients with chronic lymphoid leukemia (CLL), acute leukemia (ALL and AML) and lung and prostate cancer. > Rituxan® was the first FDA-approved, targeted anti-cancer antibody drug. It was developed for patients with B-cell NHL, including diffuse large B-cell and follicular B-cell lymphoma and is now used to treat patients with CLL and severe rheumatoid arthritis. Rituxan is being further studied as a treatment for other types of autoimmune diseases and cancers, and for chronic graftversus-host disease, a serious long-term complication of bone marrow / stem cell transplantation. OTHER NEW DIRECTIONS
LLS-funded researchers are also exploring other areas of research that hold promise for patients: > Novel Stem Cell Transplantation
Procedures: These include so-called mini-transplants that use less toxic pre-transplant treatments and engineered donor cells that
help reduce post-transplant complications, making these potentially curative treatments available to
more patients.
> Immunotherapies: These treatments, based on successful transplant procedures, include cancer vaccines and immune cell-based procedures that help a patient’s immune system kill residual blood cancer cells, prolonging remission and perhaps one day replacing toxic chemotherapies. > Radioimmunotherapies: Researchers are developing new techniques that deliver radiation via antibody proteins that bind specifically to cancer cells, sparing normal tissue. > Survivorship Research: These studies increase our understanding of how specific treatments can cause debilitating side-effects, including late-effects, and which patients are at risk for developing these complications, so that they can be predicted, managed and even prevented. Help Lisa Fight Blood Cancers Right Now! ** DONATIONS ACCEPTED HERE!** ***** Every Little Bit Helps.****** ************Thank You.************ |
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