LIVE, ONE-HOUR FUNDRAISING EVENT TO AIR SIMULTANEOUSLY
ON ABC, CBS AND NBC 8 PM EST & PST / 7PM CT
HBO, Discovery Health, E!, MLB Network, The Style
Network and Others Joining Effort
Significant Progress Being Made by Cancer
Researchers with Funds Raised To Date
Photos/video of today’s announcement available at http://ddbtalkvalue.com/stand/
(video not yet available, coming soon)
May 19, 2010 (Los Angeles / New York) Two years after an
historic fundraising telecast and the start of a groundbreaking
grassroots movement, Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) will return
to primetime television on September 10, 2010, at 8PM EST & PST
/ 7PM CT, with a star-studded appeal to build continuing public
support and donations for cutting-edge cancer research that
translates at a rapid pace from the laboratory to treatments and
technologies that benefit patients.
Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer and Brian
Williams announced the upcoming show during individual
live appearances on CBS’s “The Early Show,”
ABC’s “Good Morning America” and NBC’s
“TODAY” show, respectively. The three network evening
news anchors — who will host the September 10th telecast,
executive produced by Laura Ziskin —
participated in an interview together last week, discussing the
upcoming fundraising event as well as the encouraging progress of
“Dream Teams” of researchers SU2C has funded to date.
Portions of that interview, the first joint appearance by this
group of anchors, also aired on the morning shows.
ABC, CBS and NBC are donating one hour of simultaneous
commercial-free primetime for the nationally televised September
10th fundraising special, to be telecast from Los Angeles.
Similar to the landmark 2008 broadcast, this year’s
telecast will feature live performances of legendary recording
artists and stars from film, television and sports who will present
content providing viewers with insights into cancer. While
the broadcast will honor the memory of those taken by the disease,
it will focus on surviving cancer on living a full life after being
diagnosed with it. In the United States alone this year, 1.4
million people will be diagnosed with cancer.
HBO, Discovery Health, E!, MLB Network and The Style Network
will also carry the show this year, and other networks and cable
channels are also expected to join the effort. The program
will include calls to donate through designated phone lines, as
well as to the standup2cancer.org web site. One hundred percent of
all public donations will go directly to cancer research.
The primary goal of SU2C is to raise funds for groundbreaking
translational research to accelerate the delivery of new therapies
to patients, getting them from the “bench to the
bedside” as quickly as possible. SU2C brings together
scientists from different disciplines across various institutions
to work collaboratively — rather than competitively —
at a critical time in the field of cancer research.
“Every day, cancer kills 1,500 Americans one person every
minute,” said executive producer Laura Ziskin. “This
year, more than 560,000 Americans and eight million people
worldwide will succumb to the disease. One in three women and one
in two men will be diagnosed in their lifetimes. This is simply
unacceptable. Our goal with this telecast is to not only continue
to raise funds to accelerate promising research, but also show
viewers how their money and individual action will make — and
have already made — a difference. The scientists
and our nation are poised to break through the final barriers to
truly make this the beginning of the end of cancer.”
The original SU2C telecast on September 5, 2008 aired on ABC,
CBS, NBC and E!, and was viewed in more than 170 countries.
Throughout the program, many scientists and celebrities stood
together in an unprecedented display of unity to combat cancer,
including the late Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Aniston, Rob
Lowe, Halle Berry, Ellen DeGeneres, Charles Barkley, Christina
Applegate, Lance Armstrong, Tina Fey, Kirsten Dunst, Jack Black,
America Ferrera, Neil Patrick Harris, Salma Hayek, Scarlett
Johansson, Robin Roberts, Meryl Streep, Forest Whitaker and Abigail
Breslin. Musical performers included Sheryl Crow, James
Taylor, Melissa Etheridge, and a group that included
Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, Fergie, Carrie Underwood, Mary J.
Blige and several other recording artists.
Commenting on SU2C, the evening news anchors said:
“Stand Up To Cancer is a populist movement,”
explained Katie Couric. “People of all ages are getting
involved…Not only people who have cancer or who are dealing
with it, but young people who want a cancer-free world in their
future we really think that’s finally attainable.”
“The broadcast is a way of saying, Together, we can do
this’ said Diane Sawyer. “And yes, we’re
losing one person every minute, but 11 million survivors are out
there; living proof that this can be done. It will also be an
opportunity for everybody to figure out concrete ways that they can
do the things that they connect to the most strongly.”
“I try to remind people,” said Brian Williams,
“We won the Second World War, came back from that, and
decided to go to the moon. We didn’t really break a
sweat. And when you think about it, think of all that energy
and power we can unleash when we want to&As we said when we
first embarked on this, if enough people stand up and say, No,
we’re not going to do this anymore,’ we can do
this.”
The 2008 telecast helped raise more than $100 million, and more
than $83 million has since been committed to five
multi-disciplinary “Dream Teams” of researchers from
more than 50 institutions, as well as to 13 young innovative
scientists who are undertaking high-risk, potentially high-reward
projects to end the reign of cancer as a leading cause of death in
the world today.
The American Association for Cancer Research is the scientific
partner of Stand Up To Cancer. AACR is responsible for
administering the grants and providing scientific oversight in
conjunction with the SU2C Scientific Advisory Committee, led by
Nobel Laureate Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D., institute professor at the
David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology with vice chairs: Brian J.
Druker, M.D., director of the Oregon Health & Science
University Knight Cancer Institute, and Arnold J. Levine, Ph.D.,
professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and The Cancer
Institute of New Jersey.
Collectively, the research underway through the SU2C Dream Team
projects has the potential to impact the diagnosis and treatment of
a wide range of cancers in adults and children across ethnicities
including pancreatic, breast, ovarian, cervical, uterine, brain,
lung, prostate, rectal and colon, and leukemia and lymphoma, which
represent approximately two thirds (373,300) of all U.S. cancer
deaths.
All these projects have the potential to significantly advance the
understanding of the complex mechanisms that cause cancers to occur
and spread; to lead to the development of a new generation of
targeted therapies, more improved and less toxic cancer treatments,
including difficult to treat cancers; and to improve the methods of
diagnosing cancers and monitoring the effects of treatment.
“For people struggling with this disease, or those who
will be diagnosed, scientific breakthroughs can be a matter of life
or death — literally. We want everyone to know that they can
make a difference in this fight,” said Sherry Lansing, SU2C
co-founder, who also established the Sherry Lansing Foundation and
is Chair of the Entertainment Industry Foundation Board of
Directors. “From the person who can give five dollars to the
philanthropist who can give millions, we are all connected to the
devastation that cancer causes in our families, and together, we
can Stand Up to end it.”
The SU2C funding model has fostered collaboration and innovation,
and the unprecedented sharing of ideas and pooling of resources
across institutions. Less than one year after the
announcement, all five Dream Teams have clinical trials planned or
at various stages of development. The September 10th
broadcast will highlight examples of the Dream Teams’
progress to date, including:
” The
Epigenetics Dream Team: Recently, scientists and researchers
discovered the epigenome, which is the material surrounding DNA.
When this material behaves badly, it sends inaccurate signals and
actually causes cancer. Manipulating this epigenetic material
or reversing how it’s behaving can attack the cancer
itself. This SU2C Dream Team tested a combination of drugs in
preliminary, Phase I clinical trials and saw tumors shrink in a
group of patients with small cell lung cancer, who had previously
been treated, unsuccessfully, with three different chemotherapy
regimens. The Dream Team is enrolling patients in the first Phase
II clinical trial of epigenetic drugs to confirm and build on these
results.
” The
Pancreatic Cancer Dream Team: This SU2C Dream Team is
conducting clinical trials to test new ways of cutting off the fuel
supply to pancreatic cancer. One set of trials uses a drug to
break through the tough coating surrounding the cancer so that a
second drug can kill the cancer cells. This drug combination
is showing positive preliminary results in actually shrinking
tumors. Another effort is aimed at examining a tumor’s
metabolism to personalize treatment for individual patients so that
the effectiveness of treatment is maximized and side effects are
minimized. The team is also developing new ways to get images
of pancreatic cancer, so that the tumor’s response to
treatment can be observed. This will make personalized
treatment a reality for pancreatic cancer patients.
” The
PI3K Pathway Dream Team: This SU2C Dream Team has pooled
resources from seven major cancer centers to survey thousands of
breast, ovarian and endometrial cancers to look at a group of genes
involved in cell growth. These genes make up an information
pathway that, when broken, can allow cells to grow
uncontrollably. The team is enrolling patients with these
phosphoinositide PI3- kinase (PI3K) mutations into clinical trials
to test combinations of drugs to attack multiple problems with
breast, ovarian and endometrial cancers. The team use
biomarkers to decide which combination of drugs will best treat the
individual patients.
” The
Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) Chip Dream Team: This SU2C
Dream Team has developed a microfluidic chip smaller than a
business card to detect and analyze cancer cells circulating in our
blood. They are working on an improved version of the chip to
better look at the genetic and functional characteristics of CTCs
in a large-scale clinical setting. This technology will be
used to answer questions about how cancer spreads throughout the
body, how to detect metastatic cancer early, and most importantly
how to stop it from occurring.
” The
Breast Cancer Dream Team: This Dream Team is studying three
subtypes of breast cancer to understand how they become resistant
to targeted drugs. They are examining mechanisms of drug
resistance at a molecular level to understand how to avoid or to
completely circumvent the cancer’s defenses. They are
moving forward to evaluate and test drugs and new drug combinations
to find the ones that should and can be tested on patients with
specific cancer subtypes in clinical trials. A
state-of-the-art information platform has been established that
uses systems biology approaches to catalog and mine breast cancer
data gathered from several resources.
For more detailed information about the Dream Teams, individual
Innovative Research Grants and other Stand Up To Cancer activities,
www.standup2cancer.org
fosters an online community for everyone interested and affected by
cancer, with various ways for people to share information, opinions
and support, view video updates, contribute and learn of ongoing
initiatives and progress in the fight against the disease. A key
feature of the web site is the Star Constellation: For a dollar
donation or more, users can launch a star in honor of anyone who
has received a cancer diagnosis; SUTV: Video segments rich in
scientific and research information, including profiles of the five
SU2C Dream Teams featured in “The Lab” channel, as well
as ones that confront cancer’s human and personal impact; and
SU2C Magazine: Diverse content describing cutting-edge research and
offering unique perspectives of cancer researchers, patient
advocates and others. The online community provides
ample opportunity to share SU2C’s efforts via a variety of
social media outlets, including Twitter, Facebook, AOL, MySpace,
YouTube, flickr and several other sites that are accessible through
the SU2C website. SU2C is implementing ongoing grassroots
efforts and is participating in national and regional events to
raise awareness and funds.
For photos/video of today’s announcement, go to http://ddbtalkvalue.com/stand/.
About the Stand
Up To Cancer Initiative
Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) — a program of the Entertainment
Industry Foundation (EIF), a 501(c)3 charitable organization
— raises funds to hasten the pace of groundbreaking
translational research that can get new therapies to patients
quickly and save lives. In the fall of 2007, a group of women whose
lives have all been affected by cancer in profound ways began
working together to marshal the resources of the media and
entertainment industries in the fight against this disease.
The SU2C founding members include Laura Ziskin,
executive producer of the Sept. 5, 2008 broadcast and the upcoming
one, who is a cancer survivor; Sherry Lansing,
chairperson of the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s Board
of Directors and founder of the Sherry Lansing Foundation; EIF
President and CEO Lisa Paulsen; Katie
Couric; EIF Senior Vice President Kathleen
Lobb; Rusty Robertson and Sue
Schwartz of the Robertson Schwartz Agency; nonprofit
executive Ellen Ziffren; and Noreen
Fraser, founder of the Noreen Fraser Foundation (NFF) and
a cancer survivor. SU2C was formally launched on May 27, 2008.
Major League Baseball was the founding donor to
contribute to Stand Up To Cancer. Other major SU2C supporters
include Sidney Kimmel, the country’s largest
individual supporter of cancer research, Amgen, Bloomberg
Philanthropies, GlaxoSmithKline, Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB), Wallis Annenberg & The Annenberg Foundation, Alliance
for Global Good, Milken Family Foundation, Philips Electronics,
Steve Tisch, The Island Def Jam Music Group, Comcast and
many others. In addition to ABC, CBS and NBC, SU2C major media
partners include AOL, Condé Nast Media Group, eBay
Inc., Facebook, Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Hearst Corporation,
Los Angeles Times, Meredith Corporation, The New York Times
Company, Time Inc and WebMD.
About the AACR
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), which consists
of more than 31,000 scientists engaged in the fight against cancer,
is the oldest and largest scientific organization in the world
focusing on every aspect of high-quality, innovative cancer
research from the bench to the bedside. Lauded internationally for
its scientific breadth, innovation and spread of new knowledge
about cancer, the AACR is on the front lines in the quest for the
prevention and cure of cancer.
About the
Entertainment Industry Foundation
Stand Up To Cancer is a program of the Entertainment Industry
Foundation (EIF), the 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that
serves as the collective philanthropy for the television and film
businesses. EIF has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to
support programs addressing critical health, education and social
issues.
Media Contacts:
Rubenstein Communications
Tom Chiodo 212.843.8289
tchiodo@rubenstein.com
Janet Wootten 212.843.8032
jwootten@rubenstein.com
Kristen Bothwell 212.843.9227
kbothwell@rubenstein.com
ID PR
Chet Mehta 323-822-4871
cmehta@id-pr.com
Sheri Goldberg 646-723-3800
sgoldberg@id-pr.com
AACR
Michele Leiberman 267-646-0622
michele.leiberman@aacr.org
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