Join NBTS’s campaign to raise awareness about the importance of biomarker testing and clinical trials for patients with brain tumors.
READ MOREPublished on January 26, 2016 in Research, Our Impact, Leadership Spotlight
Before we completely put 2015 in the rearview, we’d be remiss if we didn’t give a quick review of the progress and impact that we made, together, last year. (Note: NBTS will have a more comprehensive Annual Report later in the year). We’ve already taken a look back at some of our staff’s favorite memories of the year, and now we want to look, specifically, at the advances made toward better treatments and a cure that were only possible because of your support.
Past Funding Begins to Bear Fruit
Early in the year, we learned some encouraging initial results from three groundbreaking projects that NBTS had previously helped fund.
These molecular data help us better classify glioma patients, so we can begin to understand who needs to be treated more aggressively and who might be able to avoid unnecessary therapies.
Attribution: Dr. Daniel Lachance, Mayo Clinic
As the year went on, we continued to report results from studies we’ve funded through donor support that are helping the scientific and medical field understand brain tumors and how to best treat them.
Public Policy Advocacy Kicks Into High-Gear
Thanks to extraordinary volunteer support, engagement, and commitment our Public Policy Advocacy Program has continued to grow since it launched in 2011, and 2015 was easily our biggest year yet.
Starting in May, our annual Head to the Hill advocacy day drew record attendance and participation. And the work our volunteer advocates and staff did on (and off) Capitol Hill clearly resonated with policy-makers in Washington:
The year was then capped off with a last-minute budget deal in Congress that provided more funding for pediatric brain tumor research, as well as more funding overall for the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute.
Overall, NBTS volunteer advocates sent more than 5,000 messages regarding our legislative agenda and priorities to their members of Congress.
Expanding the Oligodendroglioma Research Fund
In 2013, NBTS gave out the first two grants as part of Oligodendroglioma (Oligo) Research Fund to Drs. Anders Persson of UCSF and Drs. David Louis and Mario Suva of Massachusetts General Hospital. We called that “Phase I” of the Oligo Research Fund. Next, we awarded Drs. Robert Jenkins and Daniel Lachance of the Mayo Clinic a grant in 2014 as part of “Phase II” of the project. While the grants for Drs. Persson and Louis and Suva wind-down, and Drs. Jenkins and Lachance are in mid-stream of their project, NBTS announced yet a third-round of grants from the Oligo Research Fund this past September.
After looking at the science coming out of the Oligodendroglioma Research Fund, we conducted a landscape analysis, which showed that the development of clinical biomarkers for oligodendroglioma was key to translating research findings into treatments that can benefit patients.
“Previous funding through our Oligodendroglioma Research Fund has, thankfully, provided some much-needed knowledge about how these under-studied tumors develop and progress, as well as a number of potential treatment targets for precision therapeutics,” said Carrie Treadwell, chief research officer, National Brain Tumor Society. “Implementation of a clinically relevant biomarker development research program will now provide the foundation for realizing precision-based medicine by providing an important bridge between early research studies and later clinical evaluations. Advancing clinically testable targeted agents will depend on biomarkers.”
Within the next few months we will be reporting out on the outcomes, accomplishments, and impact of the Phase I grants, as well announcing some exciting new oligo and low-grade glioma projects.
Defeat GBM Research Collaborative Produces Key Findings
Our signature research effort, the Defeat GBM Research Collaborative, produced two big findings in 2015:
Taken together in 2015, the Defeat GBM Discovery, Predictive Markers, and Systems Biology research teams really started to dive deeper into mapping the total effects known molecular alterations have on GBM cells so that treatments can be developed with the ability to overcome the resistance we typically see from GBMs. At the same time, the Drug Development core began to look at drug combinations that could work against GBM, and is concurrently developing a number of new preclinical testing tools that will continue to aid future drug testing.
Big-Time Collaborations
A hallmark of NBTS’ strategy is to foster collaboration and help the brain tumor field work together, instead of in silos, to find better treatments and ultimately a cure. In 2015, we announced a new partnership; united with other groups, scientists, and doctors in a global research effort; and reported results from one collaborative effort already underway:
We look forward to these efforts yielding new and more positive results in 2016.
More Hope for Pediatric Brain Tumors on the Horizon
In the sections above, we’ve already mentioned a number of new efforts that initiated in 2015 to help accelerate progress in a therapeutic area where research funding and investment in drug development has underserved the immense unmet medical need of children with brain cancer. And in September, we also finalized plans for, and announced the leadership of, the Defeat Pediatric High-Grade Glioma Research Collaborative, set to be the research arm of Project Impact, our latest, comprehensive pediatric initiative.
Between our alliance with the V Foundation to fund pediatric brain tumor research, re-opening an extra funding stream for pediatric brain tumor research through the Department of Defense’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Fund, and the introduction of the Childhood Cancer STAR Act, pediatric brain tumor research was primed in 2015 for a path to more effective treatments.
Raising Awareness and Bringing the Community Together
In 2015, NBTS hosted two inaugural events that served to bring members from all corners of the brain community together to unite for the common cause of finding better treatments and ultimately cures for brain tumors. These two events, were incredible illustrations of passion, energy and community support:
On the heels of the Grey Gala, our annual Scientific Summit which convened renowned leaders from all aspects of the brain tumor field — many actively engaged in our ground-breaking research initiatives — to share our collaborative work, explore emerging opportunities, and build strong and diverse partnerships to fast-track new discoveries toward a cure.
Finally, we continued to provide valuable news, education, and insights to the brain tumor community via our communications channels, chief among them this blog.
We invite you all to stay tuned with us throughout 2016. We’ll soon be sharing some thoughts/hopes/predictions for the year from top neuro-oncologists, our own vision for 2016, and, of course, more outcomes from the initiatives we are able to undertake with your support.
Our work is not completed until we’ve found a cure, and every dollar you give brings us closer.
Thank you.