KATHY GIUSTI
F O U N D E R
LETTER FROM OUR FOUNDER
Dear Friends,
F R O M
O U R
Five years ago, we brought together our partners to discuss and solve
a fundamental challenge slowing progress in multiple myeloma: the
widespread lack of data and data sharing. Without access to a large
number of patient tissue samples and critical health information,
researchers did not have the resources needed to transform innovative
ideas into breakthrough discoveries.
Today, that could not be
farther from the case. More
The MMRF has done a good job of
than 1,000 multiple myeloma
pushing the idea that as soon as you
patients enrolled in the MMRF
get a piece of information, you should
CoMMpass StudySM, each of
be sharing that. It’s the difference of
whom contributed to what
a cycle time that might be a year to a
is now the world’s largest
cycle time that might be weeks.
genomic cancer dataset that
can be accessed by the best and
— Eric Lander, PhD
brightest researchers around
President and Founding Director
the globe. Through CoMMpass,
Broad Institute of MIT/Harvard
we are now learning how to
more accurately characterize high-risk patients and most effectively use the
treatment options available, as well as identify new targets and pathways for drug development.
The result is dozens of new research initiatives, including 19 presentations, that will be showcased this year at the
American Society of Hematology’s (ASH) annual meeting (see p. 4). Importantly, these CoMMpass abstracts are in
addition to others highlighting MMRC clinical trials, including those investigating four new treatments for the hardest
to treat patients (see p. 5). Together, this research demonstrates that our commitment to collaboration and promise of
generating data and placing it in the public domain leads to important insights and accelerated progress.
These advances would not have been possible without the centers and individuals who participated in CoMMpass
and MMRC clinical trials and the individuals who funded these breakthrough research efforts. We look forward to
sharing updates on these and other research initiatives in the months to come.
Best regards,
Kathy Giusti,
Founder
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
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