STANDING UP TO CANCER, NINE YEARS LATER
by Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D.
Dr. Sharp is Institute Professor at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, chairman of the Stand Up To Cancer Scientific Advisory Committee, and the 1993 winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology
Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) was founded on May 28, 2008. The brainchild of nine Type A women from the entertainment and media worlds, it started with little more than the promise of an hour of free airtime from three major networks and a fierce determination to do something new in the fight against cancer. Nine years later, it’s become a multifaceted, fundraising, research-sponsoring juggernaut that is making a real difference in patients’ lives.
SU2C is a division of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, the powerful collective charity for the television and film businesses. The co-founders had been profoundly affected by cancer — the disease took the lives of two of them in the years since the launch.
The group consulted with a small “kitchen cabinet” of scientists, who devised the basic construct, including: team research, done by investigators at different institutions and in different disciplines; grants with dollar amounts sizable enough to make an impact; and a mandate that the research must benefit patients within the three-year term of the grants — considered “light speed” in this field.
With guidance from the prestigious American Association for Cancer Research, which had been selected as SU2C’s scientific partner, the co-founders recruited a bunch of us veteran cancer researchers as an advisory committee. They reached out to supporters at all levels — philanthropists, companies or organizations who could give $10 million to individuals who could donate $10 — and raised a lot of money. Then we got to work. To date, we’ve launched 20 “Dream Teams” of investigators, as well as six Translational Research Teams, and awarded 46 grants to individual early-career researchers.
The results have been impressive: in terms of the total number of scientists involved (more than 1,200); the number of institutions (over 140); the number of clinical trials, planned, started or completed (over 170); and most importantly, the research innovations SU2C has initiated. Lives have been saved as a result.
I strongly believe that we are in the heyday of cancer research. An incredible amount of innovative, high-quality work is being done. After more than 40 years in this business, I can say I have never been more optimistic than I am today.
Fueling that optimism is the annual SU2C Scientific Summit, when we bring together hundreds of scientists and hear their updates. At the most recent gathering, I couldn’t help but think that I’ve never been to a conference at which so much valuable work was being presented that would have a real impact on patients.
The people who study cancer in the laboratory and those who treat cancer in patients — researchers and clinicians — generally hate to use the “C” word: “cure.” They’ve seen too many supposed cures fall by the wayside. Immunotherapy offers hope of long-term survival to patients who previously had no hope. SU2C was among the first to build multiple Dream Teams to accelerate advancement of immunotherapy. In other work supported by SU2C, we’re seeing more and more durable responses, including some in patients with the most difficult to treat cancers, such as KRAS-mutation small cell lung cancer or pancreatic cancer. Patients who, not long ago, would have had a life expectancy of six months are now living for two years or more with new, experimental treatments.
It doesn’t seem out of the question that one day — in the not-too-distant future — many more cancer patients, perhaps most, can become long-term cancer survivors. Some will manage the disease as a chronic illness, but we should no longer lose so many lives to it. That would be an incredible change.
Stand Up To Cancer is achieving progress through various means. I think several characteristics are key:
Exploring promising new concepts: SU2C is willing to put money into new and different approaches. For example, one of our pancreatic cancer teams focuses on cancer as a wound that doesn’t heal. The cancer cells invade the pancreas and form what is essentially a scar tissue. The team is finding ways to dissolve the scar tissue and allow the body’s immune cells to invade and attack the cancer. It’s a new idea that brings great promise to a cancer that has had a dismal prognosis.
Bringing new perspectives together: From the start, SU2C has been devoted to bringing scientists together who might otherwise be competing for scarce research dollars. That’s the idea behind our “Dream Teams.” Fostering collaboration — instead of competition — brings together researchers and clinicians, molecular biologists, physicians, and many others, into coherent teams. Now, we’ve gone beyond the customary fields of cancer research into the realms of mathematics, physics, chemistry, computational science, and others, because all those experts and specialists have novel and exciting perspectives to bring into play. With their powerful tools, these scientists are findings new patterns and concepts that can help us understand — and defeat — cancer.
Mobilizing new groups of people: “Dream Teams” tend to be composed of well-established scientists who bring vast experience to the task. But from the start, SU2C has emphasized the potential of younger scientists who, with a little help, can pursue fresh ideas. That’s the role of our Innovative Research Grants (IRG) which are aimed at scientists relatively early in their careers. The program deliberately picks researchers whose work might not be funded through more traditional channels. They are “high-risk” projects with potential for “high reward” in terms of saving lives. The risk has been worth it.
And, at the high school level, I’m proud that SU2C is sponsoring a program in which 100 promising students are paired with scientists over the summer. We want to give these youngsters a taste of scientific work in hope they will one day join us in the lab. It’s wonderful to think that Stand Up To Cancer could influence bright, hard-working girls and boys to turn their attention to science education in general and cancer research in particular.
Flexibility: Any scientist in cancer research will tell you about the difficulty of finding support for his or her research, especially in recent years when federal funding has been basically flat and the outlook for future funding is uncertain. SU2C is willing to move fast when the right opportunity presents itself. Recently, I chaired a meeting where we were trying to select a team to receive $7 million in funding for colorectal cancer research. Among the contenders, we had two teams whose work was highly complementary. It made sense to put them together, but $7 million couldn’t possibly cover the costs of a combined effort. I turned to SU2C’s President and CEO, Dr. Sung Poblete, and whispered, “Can you get me some more money?” Within hours, SU2C’s Council of Founders and Advisors had recommended allocating an additional $5 million, and we merged the teams and funded them properly. You just don’t find that kind of speedy response very often.
Additionally, we’ve had enormous support from non-profit organizations willing to share their expertise and jointly fund and oversee Dream Teams, like the American Cancer Society on lung cancer, the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation on pediatric cancers, the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance and the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, among many others.
The last telecast, in September of 2016, aired on over 60 broadcast and cable networks and streaming platforms, a huge expansion over where we started — and more than 800 stars have volunteered their time to help raise funds and spread the word.
Collaboration is at the core of Stand Up, and it’s critical. Not only are scientists who were formally competitors joining forces, but fiercely competitive business entities — from television networks to pharmaceutical companies — are too.
The co-founders’ vision nine years ago — that when we all stand together, cancer doesn’t stand a chance — is being realized. SU2C is firing on all cylinders, continuing and expanding its work, constantly seeking new solutions that benefit the patients who so desperately need them in the here and now.
