Foundation Drives Research Agenda for Multiple Myeloma

Extract

When the National Cancer Institute announced its Cancer Genome Atlas project in December, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation's leaders already knew that their disease would be far down its list of priorities. After all, the relatively rare cancer accounts for only 1% of cancer diagnoses, with about 16,000 new cases each year.

So the Connecticut-based MMRF isn't waiting for the federal agencies. It is ahead of the curve, funding its own $6 million, 3-year initiative to map the multiple myeloma genome. The foundation is setting its own agenda, having already created a consortium of 11 collaborating institutions called the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium, including powerhouse research centers like the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Mayo Clinic, and the University of Chicago. They also created a tissue bank with hundreds of bone marrow and matching peripheral blood samples.

“We were finding we weren't making progress as quickly as we wanted to and that we really did need to take a more proactive stance as opposed to just funding the best (grant proposals) that we received,” said Anne Quinn Young, M.P.H., MMRF program director.