In addition to providing patient services the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a leader in providing funds for crucial oncology research. Earlier this month the LLS issued two separate $6.25 million grants to John C. Byrd, M.D. and Dr. Brian Drucker, M.D.

The grants were distributed through LLS’s Marshall A. Lichtman Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) program, which has funded more than $200 million since its inception in 2000. Each researcher heads a team that was awarded $1.25 million a year for five years, for a total of $6.25 million each.

Dr. Byrd, associate director of transitional research at Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital, received his first SCOR grant in 2001. He is actively is pursuing approaches to strengthen existing therapies that are still susceptible to some molecular processes that can lead to tumors.

In one project, his team is working to identify biological and clinical features that predict which patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) will benefit from the drug Flavopiridol, and which will be resistant.  In a different project, researchers are learning how the drug Lenalidomide can best be used to weaken leukemia cells and help patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).  

Dr. Drucker, who used funding from LLS in 1996 to facilitate his discovery of Gleevec, a treatment for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), is still spearheading research to develop new diagnostic tests and treatments for patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia and myeloproliferative disorders.  

Your pledge dollars are part of ongoing efforts to increase survival rates of leukemia patients by developing the next generation of therapies and diagnostic procedures.

Thank you once again for your support,

-Eric