The Phase One Foundation has awarded City of Hope researchers $500,000 to support early stage testing and development of potential new cancer therapies.
The foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to medical advances in cancer care, awarded the two-year grant to Robert Figlin, M.D., Arthur and Rosalie Kaplan Professor of Medical Oncology.
“I am honored to receive this grant from Phase One Foundation in support of City of Hope’s efforts to identify and develop new, targeted anticancer therapies,” said Figlin, chair of the Division of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research and associate director for clinical research in City of Hope Cancer Center. “Our multidisciplinary approach to cancer treatment incorporates laboratory research with clinical practice to help speed our discoveries to cancer patients in a rapid, safe and effective phase I program.”
The Phase One Foundation grant will fund collaborative projects, clinical trials, experimental protocols and translational research. City of Hope will establish institutional grants to support novel phase I clinical trials developed with the Department of Clinical and Molecular Pharmacology, as well as new programs that can reach the clinic within two years. Funds also will establish competitive awards in the cancer center’s Developmental Cancer Therapeutics and Hematologic Malignancies programs to help investigators work together to move their lab research into clinical treatment.
”Phase One Foundation and City of Hope share the same vision of bringing research breakthroughs to clinical use rapidly for the benefit of patients,” said Ed Sachse, Phase One Foundation board member and head of public relations for the organization. “Through collaborative efforts between laboratories and physicians, we can help in the development of new treatments for cancer, and perhaps a cure.”
Any investigative therapy must pass through three phases of clinical testing before the Food and Drug Administration can approve it. In phase I trials, researchers examine dosing and scheduling — how much and how often a patient can safely take a product. Phase II trials determine whether a product works, and phase III trials, which can involve thousands of patients worldwide, look at whether the product works better than current therapies.
Phase One Foundation, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based organization founded in 1999, is committed to supporting phase I clinical trial research and treatment programs for patients with cancer.
