Cancer Immunotherapy Month Aims to Increase Awareness and Funding for Groundbreaking Cancer Treatment

Strategic Insights -

Cancer immunotherapy, designed to empower a patient's own immune system to eliminate cancer cells, has produced cure-like remissions in advanced cancers, including melanoma, lung cancer, and leukemia. The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) is hosting its third annual Cancer Immunotherapy Month in June to increase awareness and accelerate fundraising for cancer immunotherapy research. "Cancer treatment is undergoing a revolution thanks to the latest immunotherapy innovations," said Jill O'Donnell-Tormey, Ph.D., CEO and director of scientific affairs at CRI. "We expect to see cancer immunotherapy become increasingly mainstream over the next ten years, and with the influx of new therapies and research this will potentially mean fewer lives lost to this disease."

Key Takeaways:

  • Cancer immunotherapy has produced cure-like remissions in advanced cancers, including melanoma, lung cancer, and leukemia.
  • CRI's Cancer Immunotherapy Month aims to increase awareness and accelerate fundraising for cancer immunotherapy research.
  • The campaign features a range of activities, including #WhiteOutCancer Day on June 12, where participants can wear white to show support for immunotherapy.
  • Patients and caregivers can learn more about immunotherapy through video and webinar series, including "Immunotherapy: 5 Ways to Stop Cancer" and "What Patients Should Know: Latest Cancer Immunotherapy Treatments".
  • Community oncologists and nurses can learn more about cancer immunotherapy through CRI's "Oncologist to Oncologist" webinar and Oncology Nurse Educational Program.
  • The campaign has attracted significant support from the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, as well as leading academic universities and nonprofit organizations.

Statistics:

  • CRI has invested $282 million in support of research conducted by immunologists and tumor immunologists at the world's leading medical centers and universities.
  • Over 6,500 oncologists and nurses will receive email updates on the latest cancer immunotherapy research.
  • The Cancer Research Institute Ride to Conquer Cancer is a two-day, 150-mile cycling event to raise money for cancer immunotherapy research.

Sources:

  • New York (PRWEB) May 20, 2015
  • American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
  • Cancer Research Institute (CRI)
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb
  • AstraZeneca
  • Merck (known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada)
  • Genentech
  • Agenus
  • Amgen
  • Bavarian Nordic
  • Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
  • AbbVie Biotherapeutics Inc.
  • Advanced Proteome Therapeutics Inc.
  • Celldex Therapeutics, Inc.
  • Galena Biopharma, Inc.
  • Nektar Therapeutics
  • NewLink Genetics
  • AIM at Melanoma
  • American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
  • Basin Holdings
  • Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium (CIC)
  • Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network (CITN)
  • Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine
  • Giant Creative/Strategies LLC
  • Hollings Cancer Center of the Medical University of South Carolina
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
  • Immudex
  • Immuno-Oncology 360
  • Kansas Masonic Cancer Research Institute
  • Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins
  • Ludwig Cancer Research
  • Lung Cancer Alliance
  • Melanoma International Foundation
  • Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA)
  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
  • Moffitt Cancer Center
  • National Brain Tumor Society
  • Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone
  • Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute
  • The Rockefeller University
  • Rutledge Foundation
  • Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC)
  • Solving Kids' Cancer
  • Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C)
  • Stupid Cancer
  • TheAnswerToCancer.org
  • Trilogy Lacrosse
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • University of Pittsburgh
  • USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
  • Us TOO International Prostate Cancer Education & Support Network
  • W2O
  • Weill Cornell Medical College
  • ZERO–The End of Prostate Cancer
  • Association for Cancer Immunotherapy (CIMT) (Germany)
  • Austin Health/Ludwig Cancer Research (Australia)
  • Canadian Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium (CCIC) (Canada)
  • Cancer Science Institute of Singapore
  • National University of Singapore (Singapore)
  • Center for Immune Modulatory Therapies for Autoimmunity and Cancer (IMTAC) (Sweden)
  • Chinese Society for Immunology (China)
  • ecentricarts (Canada)
  • European Academy of Tumor Immunology (EATI) (Europe)
  • Istituto Nazionale Tumori "Pascale" (Italy)
  • Italian Network for Tumor Biotherapy (NIBIT) (Italy)
  • Japanese Association of Cancer Immunology (JACI) (Japan)
  • Karolinska Institutet (KI) (Sweden)
  • Krankenhaus Nordwest (Germany)
  • Leiden University Medical Center (The Netherlands)
  • McGill University (Canada)
  • National Center for Cancer Care & Research (NCCCR) Hamad Medical Corporation (Qatar)
  • QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute (Australia)
  • Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen (The Netherlands)
  • University of Ulm (Germany)