The aim of all our programmes is to accelerate a transformative change in scientific research that will lead to better treatments and cures for FL patients.
In choosing what work to do we are solely focused on output and impact. We are rolling out our first three programmes and are looking forward to reporting on rapid progress.
The people living with FL are central to everything we do. The Foundation will link research and clinical communities, together with patients, to help ensure their views and experiences are part of the development process for new treatments.
FL is a disease that for most runs a course of moving from periods of remission into relapse and back again and most patients experience multiple relapses over the course of their disease which can run for years or decades. For a small number of patients the disease progresses earlier and they can face 5-year survival rates as low as 50%.
But like many cancers FL is genetically not just one disease, so to find cures will require a range of therapies to help a range of people. This rests on finding the right drug to be provided to the right patient at the right time.
The FLF are launching a suite of initiatives aimed to make curative therapies available to FL patients as soon as possible. The first initiative is the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation CURE FL Awards – Curative Research to Eliminate Follicular Lymphoma, launched in early 2022. These Awards focus on work in two areas as the most likely to lead to curative therapies available to FL patients as soon as possible: cellular immunotherapy, CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor T cells) and others, and also targeted therapies, either as standalone treatments or in combination with other treatments. You can read more about these 2022 Awards here.
The 2022 CURE FL Awards are now closed for submission and we will be making further announcements on the successful proposals later this year. Timeframes for the 2023 CURE FL Awards will also be made later this year.
This programme will create partnerships with major and prestigious academic and research institutions around the world with significant skills in FL and in many other disciplines that will build on strong multi-disciplinary approaches to help us achieve our mission to find a cure for FL.
We will be announcing the first of these partnerships before the end of the year.
“I believe the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation will accelerate profoundly the time when FL suffering and death are eliminated — and in doing so — deliver curative new drugs for more than 20 other forms of currently incurable human cancers with FL identical genomic targets”Jonathan W. Simons, MD, President and CEO, Prostate Cancer Foundation
Tailored treatment to you.The goal of this programme is to improve treatment strategies and speed up the development of new treatments, and ultimately a cure, for every FL patient:
This project rests on working with patients to collect the largest set of information on FL that will give a new picture for doctors, researchers, and patients about the disease.
The more patients who join the faster we will be able to get to our goal. We will be keeping you updated via this e-news and on our social channels about when this project will be launching so watch this space.
Caitlin Worner (diagnosed 2018)
While the Foundation will support grant programmes independently and in partnership, we also need to try and harness the larger resources available via government and local agencies and other cancer non-profits. The Foundation will look to work in the UK and the US to advocate for increased focus on FL at this level, encouraging research and supporting agencies to making these efforts as effective as possible.
Please click to read policy on working with the pharmaceutical industry
The FLF will be funding grant programmes independently and via co-funding partnerships.
“We are delighted to be partnering with the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation as we work towards our shared goal of improving the lives of people affected by blood cancer. We welcome their commitment to fund research into this type of blood cancer and want to work together to make sure our combined research spend has the biggest possible impact. Above all, we know that raising awareness of all types of blood cancer and the needs of those affected isn’t something one single charity can do on its own, and it is only by working together to have a greater impact than the sum of our parts”
Gemma Peters, Chief Executive of Blood Cancer UK
