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Oct.7, 2006
Partnership for Cures (PFC) a public charity whose mission is to help philanthropists and researchers drive cures to patients, has agreed to help launch the Cure Cancer Project.
PFC began in 1998 as a private operating foundation, and in 2005 became the IRS-approved public charity, Partnership for Cures. Over the last eight years the foundation has created numerous joint ventures to support innovative medical research projects at prestigious institutions including the Mayo Clinic, Stanford University School of Medicine, Harvard University, Northwestern University, the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the National Cancer Institute, the University of Arizona, the University of Virginia, the International Myeloma Foundation and the International Breast Cancer Foundation.
According to Dr. Bruce Bloom, President and Chief Science Officer of Partnership for Cures,
“For decades, scientists and clinicians
thought we would be able to cure cancer as soon as we
understood the genetics of cancer. We assumed that
once we knew what genetically defective pathways a cancer
used we could target the pathway and destroy all of a patient’s
cancer cells. We have a lot of that genetic and
pathway knowledge now, but we don’t seem to be able to
routinely use it to rid a patient of cancer.
What we have learned is that cancer is a staggeringly complex, flexible, evolutionary disease. Every patient’s cancer is different from every other patient’s cancer, even if we call it by the same name. Within a single patient cancer cells can become so genetically different from each other that one or two targeted drugs become ineffective.
Each year we learn more about cancer. Each year we test new targeted drugs against individual pathways and sometimes against multiple pathways. And still each year millions of our loved ones and neighbors and patients die from cancer. The need for a fundamentally new approach becomes more clear and urgent each year.
A fundamentally new approach has emerged that addresses the enormous genetic complexity of cancer. This approach includes a practical plan to cure cancer
endorsed
by leading cancer scientists. The Cure Cancer Project is being formed to translate this plan into reality. Partnership for Cures is strongly supports the evaluation, validation and translation of this important initiative from plan into action.”
Please contact us for further information or to find out how you can help.
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