MMRF Accelerator Magazine Summer 2015 Edition | Page 5

We saw an opportunity to speed up the development
of new treatments, and built a model to achieve it.

will help determine the best approach to
assessing individual patient response to
We are in the process of developing
a Patient Registry that will allow
healthcare professionals and researchers
to identify evolving disease trends, learn
about the most effective treatments, and
design new clinical trials.
The Learning Network
The clinical and molecular data from
the Genomics Initiative and the MMRF
CoMMpass Study are housed in the
MMRF Researcher Gateway, enabling
researchers worldwide to access and
utilize the data to form new hypotheses
and study patient outcomes in novel

Harlan Stone is a survivor of olfactory neuroblastoma,

Photo © Steven Lowy

treatment and when it should be altered.

Harlan Stone, Double Data Donor
a very rare form of cancer with only about a thousand
documented cases in the history of medicine. When
Kathy Giusti urged him to have his tumor sequenced, it
was a first for that type of cancer. Now there is a research
project at Johns Hopkins. “I realized how powerful it
could be,” he says. “The tools, the sequencing, what we
know about genetics could help create opportunities to
treat cancer more effectively, more rapidly.”
As a cancer survivor and MMRF supporter, Harlan appreciates how the MMRF
is paving the way. Its use of clinical big data to accelerate cures for multiple
myeloma also serves as a model for other cancers. “Personalized medicine and
genetic understanding, I realized, were a big part of the future. I’m very excited
to be part of that data share.”

ways. The MMRF CoMMunity Gateway

Harlan is a data bank donor in another important way. He has made a sizable

is a unique informational and social

financial contribution to the MMRF Data Bank initiative. Some years ago, before

forum aimed at fostering precision 
care

he was diagnosed with his cancer, he received a mailing from the MMRF that said,

by matching patients to the right trials

“When two great organizations collaborate, innovation accelerates.” “I still keep

and treatment opportunities. Our
Collaborative Networks of Excellence
bring together the brightest minds 

in myeloma to forge advances for
research into new immune therapies 

and molecular-based treatments. And

that on my desk,” he says. “The concept of sharing information has motivated me
to say this is where it’s going, this is where the help will come from. I have great
respect for the MMRF and its commitment to do meaningful research that is not
just following the current path.”

range of pharmaceutical, biotech

of the challenges of traditional clinical

and diagnostic partners, the Multiple

trials such as cost, patient participation

Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC)

and effective design. This unprecedented

is aggressively investigating many

and unmatched clinical development

molecularly targeted, immune, and novel

platform is speeding, refining, and

agents. We are also working on a Master

enhancing clinical trial enrollment,

Protocol approach — a unique and

reducing the cost of drug development,

The Clinic

modern pivotal trial design that could

and ultimately—by determining the best

Together with 22 leading academic

dramatically accelerate the development

therapeutic fit for patients — improving

and community centers and a wide

of targeted therapies by addressing many

treatment outcomes.

with partners such as GNS Healthcare,
we now have the technology available
to apply cutting-edge computer models
of myeloma itself and analytics to
uncover disease pathways, pushing us
closer to a cure.

M M RF M O D E L

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