Ovarian cancer charity wins GSK/King’s Fund award
pharmafile | May 21, 2012 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | GSK, awards, charity, king's fund, ovarian cancer
A charity which aims to increase the chances of survival for patients with a poorly-treated form of cancer is to get £35,000 in funding from GlaxoSmithKline.
Target Ovarian Cancer was joint-winner of GSK’s IMPACT awards scheme, run in partnership with The King’s Fund and open to charities with an income of less than £1.5 million.
The TOC charity was a joint winner with the Cornish Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (WRSAC), which also received a £35,000 grant.
Around 6,500 women in the UK develop ovarian cancer each year, but it has the worst outcomes of all gynaecological cancers, with treatment largely limited to chemotherapy and surgery.
Target Ovarian Cancer raises awareness of symptoms, offers a national support programme and treatment guides and campaigns for better management of the disease.
It also funds clinical research and its chief executive, Annwen Jones, said that the award recognises the work TOC does in improving survival and quality of life for women with ovarian cancer across the UK.
He added: “We were already thrilled to be one of the eight winners, so we are over the moon to be announced as one of the overall winners by such a recognised panel of professionals.
“The award is testament to how hard everyone involved in Target Ovarian Cancer has worked over the past few years.”
Jones established the charity three years ago after losing her mother and sister to the disease within a few weeks of one another.
Target Ovarian Cancer’s patron, Professor Sir Kenneth Calman, said: “An award of this calibre, part of GSK’s flagship corporate social responsibility programme, and in partnership with The King’s Fund who have had such impact on improving health themselves, demonstrates Target Ovarian Cancer’s focus and achievement since formation in 2008.
“It is fantastic to see Target Ovarian Cancer’s solid achievements qualified by independent bodies of such stature.”
The NHS spends around £3.4 billion a year on services provided by such organisations, and the IMPACT awards have given more than £4 million to 300 health care charities since 1997.
This year’s awards were decided by a judging panel including Professor Steve Field, former chair of the Royal College of General Practioners, GSK chairman Sir Christopher Gent, and King’s Fund chair Sir Chris Kelly.
New treatments
There have traditionally been few treatments for ovarian cancer, but new targeted drugs are starting to make their way into the market.
In January, Roche’s Avastin (bevacizumab) received the green light to treat women in the UK, making it the first targeted drug to gain European Union approval in this therapy area.
It can now be used in combination with standard chemotherapy as a first-line treatment after surgery: yet while a Phase III study showed this combination helped women live an average of six months longer, it failed to show an increase in overall survival.
Last month Merck bought most of the rights to Endocyte’s novel investigational therapeutic candidate vintafolide (EC145), which will be trialled in ovarian cancer – but AstraZeneca scrapped a Phase II study of olaparib last year due to poor results.
Adam Hill
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