Collaboration: National Treatment Assistance Fund

The costs of breast cancer treatment can impose a significant financial burden on survivors. The Susan G. Komen® National Treatment Assistance Fund helps bridge the gap for individuals who are actively undergoing breast cancer treatment.

The aim of the National Treatment Assistance Fund is to increase the number of individuals who remain in the breast cancer continuum of care by providing financial assistance to ensure adherence and completion of breast cancer treatment. Funding helps individuals of any age who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, at any stage of the disease.

The fund provides two types of financial assistance – assistance grants and co-pay – based upon need and eligibility requirements. Komen is currently funding two organizations that provide assistance through the National Treatment Assistance Fund.  To learn more about these programs click here or call the Komen Breast Care Helpline at 1-877 GO KOMEN (1-877-465-6636).

Limited financial assistance grants are awarded to low-income, underinsured or uninsured individuals across the country including the District of Columbia in need of:

• Pain and anti-nausea medication
• Lymphedema support and supplies with a prescription
• Durable medical equipment ordered by their physician
• Transportation to and from treatment
• Childcare and/or eldercare necessitated by treatment
• Oral medication for cancer treatment
• Wigs
• Breast prosthesis

Financial assistance is granted to individuals who meet pre-determined eligibility criteria.

Learn more: http://ww5.komen.org/WhatWeDo/IntheCommunity/NationalCommunityHealthPrograms/NationalCommunityHealthPrograms.html

Collaboration: Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance

Metastatic breast cancer is breast cancer that has spread beyond the breast to other organs in the body. In the U.S., most women with metastatic cancer develop it when cancer returns at some point after their initial breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.

In October 2013, Susan G. Komen® joined forces with a number of other cancer charities and advocacy groups to form the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance (MBC Alliance). Since that time, the MBC Alliance has grown to include 40 members and has made progress against three overarching goals:

1. Advocate for progress in research that will extend life, enhance quality of life, and ultimately end death from metastatic breast cancer
2. Strive to ensure that all metastatic breast cancer patients and their caregivers know how to, and are able to access the care and services they need from a responsive and well-informed healthcare system
3. Educate those diagnosed, their families, healthcare providers, researchers, and health policy influencers and makers on metastatic breast cancer and how it differs from early-stage breast cancer

Learn more at http://www.mbcalliance.org/

Watch the MBC Alliance’s video about the experiences of women living with MBC:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HewanXqBDlM

Additional information on Metastatic Breast Cancer: http://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/SupportforPeoplewithMetastaticBreastCancer.html

http://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/MetastaticBreastCancerHome.html

Click to access 2015%20Metastasis%20FF.pdf

Collaboration: Komen Scholars

Komen Scholars are an advisory group of 60 distinguished scholars and leaders in breast cancer research and advocacy. Each has made significant contributions to advancing the field or demonstrated significant promise of doing so in the future and all are committed to furthering Komen’s mission.

Led by the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), which serves as the executive committee, the Komen Scholars are an international group with a wide range of expertise, including clinical research, laboratory research, pathology, prevention, radiation oncology, surgery, and other research disciplines and specialties, allowing them to advise Komen in a variety of capacities. While their primary responsibility is to lead and participate as reviewers in Komen’s scientific peer review process, the Komen Scholars also serve as ambassadors and experts in our communities and across the Affiliate Network.

In addition, several of the Scholars are Advocates in Science who ensure that the unique perspectives of those affected by breast cancer are fully integrated into decisions at every step of Komen’s mission.

Learn more about the scholars:

http://ww5.komen.org/ResearchGrants/ScientificAdvisoryCouncil.html

Collaboration: Global

To maximize success, sustainability and local ownership of programs, we work with the community, for the community. We assess and base interventions in evidence and innovation; and we invest in systems change or in programs that can be sustained by the community in the long term.

Komen works in 4 regions: Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia (China), the Middle East and Europe. In these communities, we support programs that incrementally build capacity for the delivery of breast cancer education, timely screening, diagnostic, treatment and supportive care integrated with existing health services.

A prime example of Komen’s global collaborations is the Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon Initiative in Africa:

Breast and cervical cancers take a particularly devastating toll on women in developing countries. In fact, they’re the leading causes of cancer deaths among women in sub-Saharan Africa. Komen is partnering with numerous U.S. and African organizations and working to put an end to these cancer deaths.

Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon (PRRR) was cofounded in September 2011 by Susan G. Komen®, the George W. Bush Institute, the U.S. Presidents’ Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

PRRR aims to cost-effectively integrate cervical and breast cancer services into existing health service delivery platforms, beginning by leveraging the PEPFAR infrastructure for HIV/AIDS. Programs are active in Zambia and Tanzania.

Susan G. Komen’s/PRRR’S overarching global objective is to save the lives of women diagnosed with breast cancer by down-staging the disease at diagnosis and facilitating access to timely treatment. Early stage diagnosis of breast cancer is associated with significantly improved treatment outcomes.

In Zambia, Komen supports a collaborative training and technical support program between the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Trainings on health promotion, clinical breast examination and ultrasound, to name a few, are adapted to the local setting and delivered by capable and qualified health professionals in-country. Additionally, through our efforts, Komen has supported the establishment of two breast cancer clinics at the African Center of Excellence in Lusaka and the Kabwe General Hospital in Kabwe, Central Province.

In Tanzania, Komen works closely with the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly & Children to implement strategies to improve breast cancer education, screening and treatment for the community. Komen has developed educational materials in Swahili and is working with the Ministry on early detection guidelines.

Learn more: http://ww5.komen.org/WhatWeDo/AroundtheWorld/Africa/Africa.html

Breast Cancer Research: Susan G. Komen® Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Cancer Center

Since 2007, Susan G. Komen® has invested nearly $8 million to support the Susan G. Komen® Tissue Bank at the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center – the only healthy breast tissue repository in the world! By studying normal tissue, the tissue bank accelerates research on the causes and prevention of breast cancer.

To more deeply understand the evolution of the disease, it is necessary to compare abnormal, cancerous tissue against normal, healthy tissue. By providing researchers with high quality normal breast tissue and matched serum, plasma and DNA, the Komen Tissue Bank accelerates research for the causes and prevention of breast cancer.

Learn more about the Komen Tissue Bank: http://komentissuebank.iu.edu/

Breast Cancer Research: Research Advocacy

At Susan G. Komen®, we have a unique community of dedicated volunteer research advocates, who, through our Advocates in Science (AIS) program, work to reduce the burden of breast cancer in their communities.

Research advocates bring the patient’s voice to research, ensuring that the unique and valuable perspectives of breast cancer patients, survivors and co-survivors are integrated into the scientific dialogue and decisions, which impact progress toward ending breast cancer.

Research advocates play a variety of roles throughout the research process. Advocates do everything from educating others about research to participating in research grant peer reviews and working with or as part of scientific teams to help prioritize, develop and implement research projects.

Learn more: http://ww5.komen.org/WhatWeDo/WeFundResearch/BringingthePatientVoicetoResearch/BringingthePatientVoicetoResearch.html

Breast Cancer Research: Young Researchers

Susan G. Komen® continues to look to the future of breast cancer research by supporting early career scientists and developing the next generation of leaders in breast cancer research and clinical care.

Recalling our history, you’ll find Komen’s promise to “energize the science” has included funding young investigators since 1990. Now, some of those first young investigators are among the best “seasoned” breast cancer researchers in the world , including some  who are now Komen Scholars- (members of Komen’s advisory group which helps to guide Komen’s research and scientific programs and other mission programs). They are dedicated to Komen and breast cancer research and are now guiding new young minds to join them.

The field of breast cancer research has consistently attracted new minds to the pursuit of the cures. Unfortunately, with lagging funding everywhere and fewer jobs available in academic research, it has become harder to keep young scientists in the field . Without these future leaders and a dedicated workforce, our progress against the disease will not happen. That’s where the Komen Research Program comes in – by providing critical funding that supports the continued research, and thus the continued careers, of these promising scientists. But, we need everyone to help raise the dollars to fund the research.

Research is our investment in the future for our children and friends, an investment in a future without breast cancer.

Learn more about how Komen funds research: http://ww5.komen.org/WhatWeDo/WeFundResearch/HowWeFundResearch/HowWeFundResearch.html

Breast Cancer Research: Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a subtype of breast cancer that does not express hormone receptors (ER-, PR-) or HER2/neu (HER2-) About 15 to 20 percent of breast cancers diagnosed today in the U.S. are TNBC. These tumors tend to occur more often in younger women and African-American women. Women who carry a mutated BRCA1 gene tend to have breast cancers that are triple negative. Triple negative tumors are often aggressive.

Today there are no targeted therapies specifically for TNBC. However, triple negative breast cancer can be treated with surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. More research is needed to better understand how this cancer develops and how it can be treated more effectively. And that is what Susan G. Komen® is doing.

Komen has invested more than $98 million in more than 130 research grants focused on triple negative breast cancer since it was first identified as a distinct type of breast cancer in 2006. This research has helped us to understand that:

• There are at least 6 different subtypes of TNBC, each with different abnormalities, which may be treated using drugs that are specific to these abnormalities.

• A combination of a new drug called a PARP inhibitor plus standard chemotherapy may be more effective at killing TNBC than chemotherapy alone.

• A blood test that measures the presence of a specific set of genes may be used to identify TNBC patients with BRCA mutations, resulting in earlier intervention and improved treatment.

Learn more: http://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/TripleNegativeBreastCancer.html

http://ww5.komen.org/uploadedFiles/_Komen/Content/What_We_Do/We_Fund_Research/Your_Research_Dollars_at_Work/2015%20TNBC%20FF(1).pdf

Breast Cancer Research: Progress Toward the Cures

Medical research has led to more effective treatments and earlier detection of breast cancer, which contributed to a 37 percent decline in the death rate between 1990 and 2013. Today, more than 3 million people in the U.S. are breast cancer survivors.

Medical research has contributed to:

• Improved screening and early detection

• Less invasive surgery

• Improvements in breast reconstruction

• Widespread option for breast-conserving surgery

• Extensive use of sentinel node biopsy

• More effective chemotherapy

• More effective hormonal therapy

• Development and use of targeted therapy

• Dramatic changes in quality of life for survivors

Learn more about Komen’s research accomplishments: http://ww5.komen.org/WhatWeDo/WeFundResearch/ResearchAccomplishments/ResearchAccomplishments.html

Breast Cancer Research: Komen’s Impact

Research is one of our best weapons against breast cancer. Over the past 30 years, it has fueled our knowledge of breast cancer and helped us understand that breast cancer is not just a single disease but many diseases, unique to each individual.

Susan G. Komen® funds more breast cancer research than any other private nonprofit, while also delivering real-time help to those facing the disease. Since 1982, Komen has funded more than $920 million in research in 48 states and 21 countries. Thanks to the generosity of donors and supporters, Komen is funding lifesaving research in all areas of breast cancer, from basic biology to prevention to treatment and to survivorship.

With continued support, this scientific research will address some of the most pressing issues in breast cancer today:

• Identifying and improving methods of early detection
• Ensuring more accurate diagnoses
• Enabling personalized treatments based on breast cancer subtypes and the genetic make-up of a tumor
• Understanding why some tumors metastasize, and others don’t

Komen also continues to support all levels of breast cancer researchers, from established investigators and leaders in the field to young scientists and clinicians who will serve as the next generation of leaders. And our research dollars help support not only scientific research and clinical trials, but also research partnerships and collaborations, scientific conferences and research education.

Read more about the impact of Komen-funded research:

http://ww5.komen.org/WhatWeDo/WeFundResearch/WeFundResearch.html