New Approach To Funding Cancer Research

My grandfather died from cancer when I was a child. My brother-in-law was taken from this life by cancer only a few years ago. In my work as a pastor over the years I comforted and prayed with hundreds of individuals and family members as they struggled to face illness and death caused by cancer.

My High School Journalism featured an article today from Padre Press - Marcos de Niza High School of Tempe, AZ - Supporters of Life: 

There are few times in a person’s life more traumatic than the day they will hear the words, “You have cancer.”

For those who have gone through the trauma of a cancer diagnosis, the biggest fundraising event of the American Cancer Society is putting their efforts to give hope to their families and themselves. 

The American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life is an overnight relay-style event where teams of people camp out around a track, walk and provide food, games and family-friendly entertainment for the entire community.
“Relay For Life is a nation-wide event to raise money for the American cancer association. It goes to support the fight against cancer,” said senior Isabelle Chea.

We are all grateful for the work of the American Cancer Society. They need our support and our prayers. But there are other organizations at work on helping us to discover ways to stamp out cancer.

Global Cures, Inc. is one such. GlobalCures is a non-profit medical research organization with a mission to help patients find their best treatment options today, share their clinical outcomes and fund promising therapies. I've been invited to meet the founder and CEO of this organization today at a private presentation on the latest advances in cancer research.

Billions of dollars are spent each year on laboratory research, where enormous progress has been made in recent years. However, for the most part, only those basic science discoveries with high potential for financial reward have led to drugs for human use leaving behind many untapped opportunities.

Among these financially unrewarding promising therapies (“Fiscal Orphans”), are many FDA approved drugs which are immediately available for use for diseases other than what they were approved for. In addition, many generally regarded as safe (GRAS) substances like flax oil or nutraceuticals such as vitamin C have been studied in humans but have rarely undergone rigorous clinical trials and therefore are typically not recommended by physicians as treatment options.

GlobalCures believes that we now have a unique opportunity - indeed a responsibility - to research further and develop such therapies. They have adopted a non-profit drug development model, so that the criteria used in evaluating the potential of a therapy will focus solely on scientific merit and not on financial reward.

Vikas P. Sukhatme, MD, PhD, is the CEO and founder of GlobalCures. Dr. Sukhatme received a PhD in physics from MIT and an MD from Harvard Medical School. He is a physician engaged in both basic science and patient-oriented research at Harvard, where he is the Victor J. Aresty Professor of Medicine. He is also the Chief Academic Officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, a teaching hospital of Harvard U. His primary interest is in cancer research but his research has spanned such diverse areas as toxemia of pregnancy and sepsis.

You may contact GlobalCures at webmaster@global-cures.org or GlobalCures,Inc., 36 Skyview Circle, Newton, MA. 02459

This is important information for all families. I'll share more in future postings.