Linda Wenger
lwenger@LUNGevity.org
(973) 449-3214
WASHINGTON, DC (August 23, 2021) — LUNGevity Foundation, the nation’s leading lung cancer-focused nonprofit organization, is partnering with The Hamoui Foundation to offer a new lung cancer research award program. The award supports research that will change RET-positive lung cancer into a chronic or curable condition. This will be transformative for the approximately 1%-2% of people with non-small cell lung cancer with the RET driver mutation. Funding for this award is being provided by The Hamoui Foundation, while LUNGevity will provide research infrastructure and scientific expertise. Funded research projects should have a direct impact on the outcomes of patients with advanced RET-positive lung cancer.
The Hamoui Foundation/LUNGevity award may be for a maximum of $1 million: $500,000 per year for up to two years. Projects funded through this award will have direct clinical implications in 1-2 years.
“In 2020, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved two targeted therapies for RET fusion-positive lung cancer. These new drugs have greatly impacted the treatment of RET+ lung cancer. However, like all targeted therapies, we are seeing resistance develop to these new drugs. Through this partnership with The Hamoui Foundation, we hope to address the What’s next after these drugs,” explained Dr. Upal Basu Roy, Executive Director of Research at LUNGevity.
“We’re excited to partner with LUNGevity on research that will improve outcomes for patients with RET+ lung cancer,” said Omaima Salous, co-founder of the Hamoui Foundation. “As a mother of young children and a survivor living with RET+ lung cancer, I know how vital this research is for our community.”
The RFA for this award is available on the LUNGevity website at www.LUNGevity.org/apply-for-award and on the proposalCentral website at proposalcentral.com.
Letters of intent for the award must be submitted by September 17, 2021.
About the Hamoui Foundation
The Hamoui Foundation is a private family foundation based in Southern California. The Foundation’s goal is to focus efforts on a select number of key initiatives to create visible step changes in the organizations they support. The Foundation aims to create sustainable benefit through the establishment of endowments that provide ongoing funding. While the focus is on creating substantial changes for select projects, the Foundation does not underestimate the power of supporting selective local nonprofit organization in their community. With the increasing crises in the Middle East, it has been a personal interest for them to aid and support families who have been displaced or were affected by the economic crises in the area. Since the establishment in 2010, the Foundation has gifted over $20 million to support progress in areas of medical research, education, community nonprofit organizations, and the fight against hunger and poverty.
For more information about The Hamoui Foundation, please visit www.hamouifoundation.org
About LUNGevity Foundation
LUNGevity Foundation is the nation’s leading lung cancer organization focused on improving outcomes for people with lung cancer through research, education, policy initiatives, and support and engagement for patients, survivors, and caregivers. LUNGevity seeks to make an immediate impact on quality of life and survivorship for everyone touched by the disease—while promoting health equity by addressing disparities throughout the care continuum. LUNGevity works tirelessly to advance research into early detection and more effective treatments, provide information and educational tools to empower patients and their caregivers, promote impactful public policy initiatives, and amplify the patient voice through research and engagement. The organization provides an active community for patients and survivors—and those who help them live longer and better lives.
Comprehensive resources include a medically vetted and patient-centric website, a toll-free HELPLine for support, the International Lung Cancer Survivorship Conference, and an easy-to-use Clinical Trial Finder, among other tools. All of these programs are to achieve our vision—a world where no one dies of lung cancer. LUNGevity Foundation is proud to be a four-star Charity Navigator organization.
Please visit www.LUNGevity.org to learn more.
About Lung Cancer in the US
- About 1 in 16 Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer in their lifetime.
- More than 235,000 people in the US will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year.
- About 60%-65% of all new lung cancer diagnoses are among people who have never smoked or are former smokers.
- Lung cancer takes more lives than the next three leading cancers (colorectal, breast, and prostate) combined.
- Only 22% of all people diagnosed with lung cancer will survive 5 years or more, BUT if it’s caught before it spreads, the chance of 5-year survival improves dramatically.