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Donor and Financial Information

2008 Publications

When doctors diagnosed Sen. Edward Kennedy with a malignant brain tumor in the spring of 2008, the outlook was bleak.

The average prognosis for the most aggressive form of this tumor, known as a glioma, is approximately 15 months, while those suffering from slower growing tumors might expect to live two to four years. At OMRF, two scientists are exploring a promising new therapy that could one day change those grim statistics. Working with an experimental compound, Drs. Rheal Towner and Robert Floyd found that, in rodents, the drug significantly shrinks the tumors.
“We’ve seen dramatic effects on the same kind of tumor that Senator Kennedy has,” says Floyd. “If the drug worked the same way in humans, it would, at a minimum, extend lives. And if it worked really well, it might suppress the tumors indefinitely.”

The compound has already been tested for safety in humans in large-scale clinical trials, and it was found to be safe. The next step, which the scientists hope to take in 2009, will be to initiate human trials to study the drug’s efficacy in treating gliomas, the same form of brain cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society, more than 21,000 Americans will develop brain and nervous system cancers in 2009, and about 13,000 people will die from these conditions this year. “Brain cancers are a devastating medical problem,” says Towner. “Although there’s still a long road ahead, this research holds the potential to change lives.”