A letter from Paul Giusti
Dear Friends,
In December of 2015 we experienced something truly remarkable. In the
span of 15 days, three new multiple myeloma drugs were approved by the
FDA — a first for any cancer.
Think about it: Just 10 short years ago, there were limited drug-treatment
therapies for multiple myeloma patients. Today there are 10 therapeutic
agents — giving patients more treatment options than ever before.
Having been on the front lines in the development of these new drugs, all of us at the MMRF
are incredibly gratified to see such dramatic progress being made. Yet we know that multiple
myeloma is still deadly and that we must push every day to develop new therapies.
As you’ll read in this edition of Accelerator, generating, analyzing and sharing large quantities of
high-quality patient data is central to driving the discoveries that can lead to novel, life-saving
treatment options. This lies at the heart of the MMRF Precision Medicine Model.
Indeed, our goal of doctors providing a specific treatment based on a patient’s genetic makeup is
within sight. Case in point: we achieved yet another notable accomplishment when we enrolled our
1,000th patient in the landmark MMRF CoMMpass StudySM — the largest, most comprehensive
genomic data set in all of myeloma, and second largest in all of cancer. More than 90 cancer research
centers worldwide are now taking advantage of this data.
Getting a large and fragmented cancer research community to embrace this new idea of open
and “democratic” access to data is complex and requires leadership. With the continued help
of our incredible and passionate community of supporters and partners, I’m confident that the
perseverance and progress that drove the results we’ve achieved to date will produce even more
breakthroughs. At this transformational time in cancer research, we are in it together, and we
couldn’t be more appreciative of your support.
Paul Giusti
President and Chief Executive Officer, MMRF