The Melanoma Research Alliance Receives Ongoing Support from the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation

The Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA), which is now the largest private foundation to combat melanoma, continues to receive substantial support from The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation for its innovative research projects around the world.



Today, the MRA finances research programs that show significant success in the prevention, diagnosis, staging and treatment of melanoma, including progress in the causes of skin screening, carcinogenesis, skin screening, imaging, biomarkers, immunotherapy, combination therapy and molecularly targeted inhibitor therapy. Since 2008, MRA's funding has been significant: granting more than $38 million to over 134 programs and 65 institutions across 10 countries.

The MRA stands out not just for its scrutiny of projects but has low administrative costs, allowing funding to go directly towards research. “Efficiency in medical research is critical,” Jeffrey Epstein stated, whose own foundation focuses on supporting innovative science and medical research. "Scientists must have financial autonomy to prioritize their goals. Otherwise they become held back by bureaucratic directives which don’t necessarily promote the best results.”

Today, melanoma is still the deadliest of all skin cancers and has prompted Congress to revisit the Sunscreen Innovation Act to push more effective protection through the FDA. Melanoma also has the highest occurrence rate compared to other cancers in the United States. Long term survival rates however, has remained static over the last forty years at an appallingly low rate of 15%.

Some of the innovative research programs that received funding from the MRA via The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation include, Georgetown University for kinetics and effects of vemurafenib on intratumoral immunity, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Rockefeller University for therapeutic targeting of novel metastatic microRNAs in human melanoma, Melbourne-Austin Branch for targeting inducible invasive cells in melanoma and Yale University, School of Medicine for regulatory macrophages: a new therapeutic target in melanoma.

“These new grants address critical issues in the prevention, detection, staging and treatment of melanoma that are central to making further clinical advances against this disease”, MRA Chief Science Officer Dr. Suzanne L. Topalian noted. “This is a time of unprecedented opportunity in melanoma research, and these projects are anticipated to result in near‐term benefits for patients.”



SOURCE:

www.jeffreyepstein.org

