March 18, 2010
Cancer
Vaccine Consortium Changes Name to Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium
New Name
Reflects Broader Focus on the Next Wave in Cancer Treatment
New York, New York — The Cancer Research Institute
(CRI), a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that supports and coordinates laboratory
and clinical efforts to harness the disease-fighting power of the immune system
to treat, control, and prevent cancer, announced today that its program, the
Cancer Vaccine Consortium—a leading global initiative on cancer vaccine
research and development comprising industry, academia, and government
institutions—has changed its name to the Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium (CIC).
The name change reflects the broad
coverage of CIC activities in the research and development of immune-based
treatments for cancer in addition to therapeutic cancer vaccines. Since 2002, the CVC has served the cancer immunotherapy
community with initiatives and solutions that were widely applicable to all
forms of immunotherapies, from immunomodulatory antibodies to vaccines. The CVC name and its implied focus on
cancer vaccines did not previously reflect this breadth.
Axel Hoos, M.D., Ph.D., co-chair of the executive
committee of the Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium and medical lead in
Immunology/Oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb, made the announcement today at the
opening of the 11th Annual Colloquium of the Cancer Immunotherapy
Consortium, taking place March 18-20 in Washington, D.C. The conference, organized by the Cancer
Research Institute, has brought together more than 110 leaders of the field from
around the world to discuss the biology of clinical success in cancer
immunotherapy, a central topic for the field.
“The new name emphasizes to our membership and the
greater cancer immunotherapy community CIC’s commitment to provide a platform
for addressing all types of cancer immunotherapies including vaccines,
monoclonal antibodies, and other modalities,” said Hoos. “The years 2009
and 2010 are indicating a turning point for the field with clinical trial successes
for different types of immunotherapies that can benefit patients in need. The initiatives of CIC have contributed
to enabling this trend, and the CIC’s new name reflects this contribution.”
“As a program within the Cancer Research Institute’s
clinical investigation initiatives,” said Jill O’Donnell-Tormey, Ph.D.,
executive director of CRI, “CIC is part of a larger spectrum of cancer
immunotherapy clinical research and development that encompasses academic and
industry efforts to discover, test, and refine immune-based cancer therapies. This includes working in concert with
synergistic programs such as the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative, an academic
clinical trials network for translational research studies with
immunotherapies, which is coordinated jointly between the Cancer Research
Institute and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.”
CIC membership currently stands at 70 companies,
academic institutions, and nonprofit or government agencies, including major
biopharmaceutical companies, established and start-up biotechnology companies, leading
academic research universities, and nonprofit health research associations. This broad representation of cancer
immunotherapy stakeholders participating in the CIC provides unique
opportunities for members and meeting attendees to contribute to community-wide
initiatives that provide practical solutions to key challenges facing the
field.
In addition to the new name, CRI has adopted a new logo for the CIC and has
updated its Web site (http://www.cancerresearch.org/consortium)
to reflect the new changes.
Media Contact:
Brian M. Brewer, Director of Communications, Cancer Research Institute
+212-688-7515, ext. 242
bbrewer@cancerresearch.org
About the Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium
The Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium (CIC), a program of the U.S.-based
nonprofit Cancer Research Institute, is an international association of
pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and academic institutions that share
a common interest in cancer immunotherapy research and development.
CIC’s mission is to improve patient care by making cancer immunotherapies
part of the standard-of-care in oncology.
CIC provides a platform that allows its stakeholders to advance the
field through collaboration, focus, data- and consensus-driven initiatives, and
premier expertise to achieve solutions to scientific and developmental
challenges within the immunotherapy community.
Established in 2002
as the Cancer Vaccine Consortium, then under the auspices of the Sabin Vaccine
Institute, the newly named Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium became part of the
Cancer Research Institute in January of 2008. Since its founding, the CIC has conducted and published
results from a number of highly successful community initiatives that address
issues of clinical paradigm development, immune assay harmonization, clinical
trial endpoints, and regulatory dialogue, among others.
For more information about the CIC, visit http://www.cancerresearch.org/consortium. For details on the CIC’s 11th
Annual Colloquium go to http://www.cancerresearch.org/colloquium2010
About the Cancer Research Institute
The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) is the world’s only non-profit
organization dedicated exclusively to the support and coordination of
scientific and clinical efforts that will lead to the immunological treatment,
control, and prevention of cancer.
Guided by a world-renowned Scientific Advisory Council that includes
four Nobel Prize winners and twenty-nine members of the National Academy of
Sciences, CRI supports leading-edge cancer research at top medical centers and
universities throughout the world.
The Cancer Research Institute has one of the lowest overhead expense ratios
among non-profit organizations, with more than 85 percent of its resources
going directly to the support of its science, medical, and research
programs. CRI meets or exceeds all
20 standards of the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance, the most
comprehensive U.S. charity evaluation service, and according to Charity
Navigator exceeds or meets industry standards and performs as well as or better
than most cancer charities. CRI
has also received an 'A' grade for fiscal disclosure and efficiency from the
American Institute of Philanthropy as well as top accolades from other charity
watchdog organizations. For more information, visit http://www.cancerresearch.org.