A letter from Paul Giusti
Dear Friends,
This has been another remarkable year for the MMRF, marked by
progress, innovation and leadership. We continue to advance our
end-to-end precision medicine model — the only one in oncology — to
drive new, more effective treatments for the patients we serve.
A good example of our precision medicine model is the research into
the BRAF mutation. Identified as a multiple myeloma therapeutic target
through our Multiple Myeloma Genomics Initiative (MMGI), a number
of Phase 2 clinical trials of Vemurafenib, a BRAF inhibitor, are now underway.
Finding actionable insights happens fast when data is publicly available for everyone
to use. This year, the MMRF contributed the largest genomic data set of any cancer
to the National Cancer Institute’s Genomic Data Commons (GDC). Through the GDC,
all of our data from the groundbreaking MMRF CoMMpass StudySM is available for
researchers to study multiple myeloma. The MMRF is the first nonprofit to place
data into the GDC, and we hope our leadership will inspire others to join us.
As therapies for multiple myeloma continue to improve, being able to detect any surviving
multiple myeloma cells after therapy is critically important. We are working with our
pharmaceutical partners, researchers and the FDA to utilize Minimal Residual Disease
(MRD) screening for clinical use. MRD allows detection of a relapse earlier and is a potential
surrogate endpoint for clinical trials. The sooner we can see how well a treatment is working,
and for how long, the sooner we can make important clinical and research decisions.
The MMRF always has a laser-like focus on making a difference in the lives of multiple
myeloma patients. While we have made enormous progress, we still have much to do.
We cannot continue to do our great research without your financial support,
so please contribute to the MMRF. Thank you for everything you have
done and continue to do as we work together to find a cure.
With warm regards,
Paul Giusti
President and Chief Executive Officer, MMRF