Where does the money go?

As you know, the money we raise helps blood cancer patients and their families by funding research to find cures and better therapies, and provide information and support so that they have the best possible outcomes throughout their cancer experience.

Big Picture:  Since the first research program funding in 1954, the Society has awarded $483 million in research grants. Now about $58 million annually, the Society’s grant programs are among the most prestigious in the fields of hematology and oncology.

Local Picture:  The Greater Los Angeles Chapter has made significant investments in the research talent in Los Angeles with funding commitments of $1.6 million this year to eight L.A. area researchers at UCLA, City of Hope and USC.  Over the past 7 years we have invested more than $7 million towards these local researchers’ projects. To give you an idea of the range of grants, here is a partial list of grants in the Los Angeles area that are or have been recently funded by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

  • $500,000 CDP Scholar in Clinical Research Grant to research health-related outcomes of blood and marrow transplantation for hematological malignancies. City of Hope, Division of Pediatrics.
  • $500,000 CDP Scholar in Clinical Research Grant to research the development of innovative mechanism-based treatment approaches for CML. City of Hope, Division of Pediatrics.
  • $324,000 Translational Grant to researching pathogensis of therapy-related leukemia. City of Hope, Division of Pediatrics.
  • $260,000 Translational Grant to research ex vivo selection of benign stem cells for autografting in CML. City of Hope, Department of Hematology, Bone Marrow Transplant.
  • $500,000 CDP Scholar Grant to research SAM domains in leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. UCLA.
  • $105,000 CDP Fellow Grant to research characterization of the ATM related cofactor TRA1 in activator-targeted acetylation and transcriptional regulation. City of Hope, Department of Molecular Medicine.
  • $500,000 CDP Scholar Grant to research a systematic program for dissecting CD40 signal transduction pathways. UCLA, Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics.
  • $390,000 Translational Grant to research adoptive immunotherapy for ALL after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant. City of Hope, Division of Pediatrics.
  • $350,000 CDP Scholar Grant to research the characterization and manipulation of human common lymphoid progenitors. Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.
  • $211,555 Translational Grant to research lymphoma immunotherapy utilizing genetically-modified CD20-specific CD8+CTL clones. City of Hope Division of Pediatrics.
  • $324,000 Translational Grant to research HLA tetramer-guided analysis of CMV immunity after BMT. Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope, Department of Virology.
  • $260,000 Translational Grant to research HLA tetramer-guided analysis of CMV immunity after HCT. Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope, Department of Virology.
  • $150,000 CDP Special Fellow Grant to research negative regulation of interferon-activated signaling pathways. UCLA, Division of Hematology & Oncology.
  • $284,441 Translational Grant to research molecular epidemiology of lymphoma in HIV-infected populations. UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
  • $165,000 CDP Special Fellow Grant dedicated to improving targeted therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia, overcoming imatinib (Gleevec) resistance. UCLA, Division of Hematology & Oncology.
  • $120,000 CDP Fellow Grant to study the structure of the herpes simplex virus immunoglobulin g receptor. CalTech, Department of Biology.
  • $120,000 CDP Fellow Grant for molecular assessment of resistance mechanisms to STI 571, a novel BCR-ABL-specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor. UCLA Division of Hematology & Oncology.
  • $120,000 CDP Fellow Grant to research the functional interplay between lysolipid GPCR family in immune control. UCLA Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.
  • $150,000 CDP Special Fellow to identify and do functional analyses of the latent gene of murine gammaherpesvirus-68. UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology.

What can a donation of $25, $50, $100, or more really do?
As a Team In Training participant, you are continuously asking for donations. To help you collect donations, and to help your donors fully understand the impact their donation will have, please share the following information with them:

  • A donation of $25 provides patients and their loved ones with FREE booklets that contain up-to-date information on their disease and help them make informed decisions about their treatment options.
  • A donation of $50 makes a Family Support group possible with a trained facilitator where comfort can be found and experiences can be shared among patients and family members.
  • A donation of $100 equals 10 Kaiser visit co-pays or can supply laboratory researchers with supplies and materials critical to carrying out their search for cures.
  • A donation of $300 equals parking for 6 weeks of daily radiation treatments at UCLA/Children’s Hospital.
  • A donation of $400 is transportation for one out-of-state bone marrow donor or covers the 20% co-pay on a month’s supply of Gleevec.
  • A donation of $500 allows the Patient Financial Aid program to reimburse up to $500 per year to help cover costs of transportation, drugs and various treatments not covered by insurance.
  • A donation of $1,000 makes possible one- on-one conversations with health care specialists who provide patients with information about their disease, treatment options, and helps prepare them with questions for their health care team.
  • A donation of $2,000 is one month supply of Gleevec.
  • A donation of $5,000 is transportation for 13 out of state bone marrow donors.
  • A donation of $10,000 equals patients getting 10 weeks of Kaiser co-pay.
  • A donation of $15,000 brings about 50 volunteers getting trained to provide support to new patients.
  • A donation of $20,000 is 1 year of Children's Hospital parking fees for 100 patients.
  • A donation of $25,000 equals a 1 year supply Gleevec.
  • A donation of $50,000 equals 100 - $500 stipend given to 100 patients.
  • A donation of $75,000 allows 50 patients to get access to a teleconference re. their cancer.
  • A donation of $100,000 or more can fund one or more research grants!

2006’s Top Research Accomplishments

An interim analysis has found that a combination of the drugs Doxil® (doxorubicin HCl liposome injection) and Velcade® (bortezomib) provides a nearly three-month improvement in time-to-disease progression in the treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma patients versus Velcade alone. This means that patients who received a combination of the two drugs had 45 percent less risk of their disease progressing – a remarkable improvement considering that myeloma is the most difficult blood cancer to treat successfully. The lead investigator was Robert Z. Orlowski, M.D., Ph.D., a University of North Carolina researcher and Society grant recipient.
Revlimid® (lenalidomide) showed promise in at least two studies presented at ASH. In one trial, patients with myelodysplastic syndromes who were treated with Revlimid were living longer and without the need for blood transfusions. Another study suggested that Revlimid, which is approved to treat myleoma, may be effective against chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
Biogen Idec Inc. reported that its experimental leukemia drug, lumiliximab, showed promise in treating CLL. The drug apparently increased the percentage of patients in a clinical trial who experienced a complete elimination of their symptoms.
Finally, Novartis announced that its experimental leukemia drug Tasigna works in about half of all patients who develop resistance to Gleevec®, the leading drug for the most common type of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).