Susan G. Komen For The Cure(R) to Invest $60 Million in Research to Accelerate Breast...

Susan G. Komen For The Cure(R) to Invest $60 Million in Research to Accelerate
Breast Cancer Cures, Eliminate Disparities, Improve Diagnoses

Leader of Global Breast Cancer Movement Continues Unprecedented Investment in
Research Despite Troubled Global Economy

DALLAS, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Committed to caring for those coping with
breast cancer while trying to rid future generations of the disease, Susan G.
Komen for the Cure(R), the world's leading breast cancer organization, today
announced $60 million in research grants to U.S. and international scientists.

This year's allocation includes $25.7 million earmarked for Komen for the
Cure's unique Promise Grants - grants to investigators from various
disciplines and sometimes different institutions, working as one team to solve
difficult challenges in breast cancer.

Komen is set to fund four Promise Grants in 2009, and for the first time,
Komen will receive co-funding from another breast cancer organization - the
Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation - to explore an aggressive form of
breast cancer known as triple negative breast cancer.

In its 27 years, Komen for the Cure has invested more than $400 million in
life-saving research that has touched every major advance in breast cancer
treatment and care. This year's grants slate is set to support scientists at
54 universities and hospitals in 26 states and one foreign country.

"Cancer research has been the cornerstone of our organization since our very
first year, and despite the downturn in the economy, our pledge to fund
quality research remains unabated. Breast cancer doesn't care about the
economy, and with more than 1.3 million new cases of breast cancer expected
this year, the need for new and continuing cancer research is more urgent than
ever," said Hala Moddelmog, Komen's CEO and president.

This year, Komen is funding Promise Grants at:

-- University of Alabama at Birmingham. This $6.4 million Komen Promise
Grant co-funded by the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation
(TNBCF)
will investigate ways to add a new drug, along with chemotherapy, to
fight triple negative breast cancer. Scientists will also look for
ways
to predict which therapies will prove most effective for triple
negative
breast cancer patients. This is the first time a nonprofit
organization
has pledged funding to a Promise Grant, the result of a partnership
between TNBCF and Komen to explore treatments for this aggressive form
of breast cancer.
-- Indiana University, Indianapolis. This $5.8 million Promise Grant will
aim to establish biomarkers that doctors can use to better predict
which
breast cancer patients will benefit from the drug Avastin, and which
cancer patients will suffer significant side effects from its use.
-- M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and Duke University, Durham,
N.C.
This $6.8 million Promise Grant will be shared between the two
institutions to study early detection and prevention strategies for an
aggressive form of breast cancer known as estrogen receptor-negative.

-- Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia. This $6.7 million Promise
Grant focuses on identifying biomarkers to predict treatment response
and to match patients to the treatment best for them.

"Komen's infusion of millions of dollars into research projects means that
promising research designed to treat and ultimately eradicate breast cancer
will continue," said Eric Winer, M.D., Komen's chief scientific advisor,
director of the Breast Oncology Center and the Thompson Senior Investigator in
Breast Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and professor of
Medicine at Harvard University.

Komen began funding research its very first year, with a research grant in
1982 for $28,000. Thanks to the organization's signature Susan G. Komen Race
for the Cure(R) Series, with 1.5 million runners and walkers participating
annually worldwide and more than 250 corporate partners, the Komen research
commitment has steadily grown.

In the last three years alone, Komen has invested nearly $237 million in
breast cancer research.

Komen for the Cure established Promise Grants in 2008, at the same time
launching a focus on research that has the best chance of delivering cures
over the next decade.

The wide spectrum of research to be funded this year by Komen includes the
following:
-- Investigations into treatment and outcome disparities (racial, ethnic)
among groups of women
-- Improved diagnostics and screening (biomarkers, new imaging
techniques)
-- New targeted therapy and methods of delivery (nanotechnology)
-- Better understanding of breast cancer types (triple negative breast
cancer)

-- Drug resistance and metastasis

Specific projects in the grants slate address the following:
-- Breast cancer in African-American women
-- Establishing mammography guidelines for women 70 and older
-- How vitamin D may protect against breast cancer
-- Evaluation of low-dose molecular breast imaging as a screening tool
-- Early detection and prevention strategies for triple negative breast
cancer

-- Combination therapies to enhance treatment effectiveness

Grants awarded by Komen for the Cure undergo a rigorous peer-review process by
groups of laboratory scientists, clinicians and advocates. These grants fall
into the following categories:

-- Promise Grants: Large-scale grants up to $7.5 million each during a
five-year period, targeted to research that brings science to the
bedside more quickly than ever before.
-- Post-Doctoral Research: Grants of $60,000 per year for two or three
years to attract and retain promising young researchers nationwide and
internationally.
-- Career Catalyst Research: Grants of $150,000 per year for two to three
years to fill a critical gap in support and stimulate the transition
from training to independence among promising cancer investigators.
-- Career Catalyst in Disparities Research: Grants up to $450,000 over
three years to foster independent careers in disparities research and
support programs of research into disparities in breast cancer.
-- Investigator Initiated Research: Grants up to $200,000 per year for
two
to three years to explore new ideas and approaches leading to
reductions
in breast cancer mortality and/or incidence within the decade.

-- Post Baccalaureate in Disparities Research: Grants up to $135,000 per
student over three years to support training for students very early
in
their career to allow them to begin to define meaningful career paths
focused on disparities in breast cancer.

A complete list of 2009 grants designees can be found at www.komen.org/grants.

Editors Note: For details regarding grants in your area or to make interview
arrangements, please contact the local Komen Affiliate in your community or
the communications offices of the recipient institutions. Each Komen Affiliate
has details about the research, institutions and the amount to be invested
into its local economy.

About Susan G. Komen for the Cure(R)
Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do
everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise
became Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which is now the world's largest breast
cancer organization and the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the
fight against breast cancer with more than $1.3 billion invested to date. For
more information about Susan G. Komen for the Cure, breast health or breast
cancer, visit www.komen.org or call 1-877 GO KOMEN.

SOURCE Susan G. Komen for the Cure

John Hammarley, +1-972-855-1604, jhammarley@komen.org, or Andrea Rader,
+1-972-855-4320, arader@komen.org, both of Susan G. Komen for the Cure(R)