The Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute in Heidelberg has benefitted from the auction of a home in East Ivanhoe on 27 May.
The home in Wilfred Road was auctioned by Nelson Alexander Ivanhoe which, as part of the real estate business’s annual Foundation Day, donated professional fees of more than $19,000 from the auction to the institute’s lung cancer research program.
In 2017, lung cancer is expected to kill more than 9000 Australians, making it the leading cause of cancer death in Australia.
The head of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute’s lung cancer research laboratory, Associate Professor Tom John, said there was an urgent need for research into the disease as only 15% of people diagnosed with lung cancer were expected to live five years beyond their diagnosis.
“Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer in Australia, indeed in the western world, yet very little is spent on lung cancer research,” Associate Professor John said. “Recent studies have successfully shown that targeted therapies, and now immunotherapies, can work in a minority of patients to slow down the disease. These studies have highlighted that the more research that is done into a cancer, the greater the chance of developing new treatments and hopefully improving survival rates”
Associate Professor John said the donation from Nelson Alexander would go toward discovering new targets for treatment. “The field of immunotherapy has generated some exciting results in people with seemingly incurable cancers,” he said. “With this funding we will explore why immune therapies work in only 30 per cent of people with lung cancer in the hope of making these therapies effective in all people with lung cancer.”
Nelson Alexander’s Foundation Day was established by the Nelson Alexander Charitable Foundation and is the day that each of the company’s 16 offices donates the professional fee from one of their auctions to the local community. Since its inception in 2005, the foundation has distributed more than $2 million.
The Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute is a leader in the development of experimental and breakthrough cancer treatments. We investigate and develop treatments for cancers of the breast, bowel, lung, melanoma, prostate, liver, gastrointestinal and brain. Our researchers and clinicians are running more than 200 clinical trials, giving patients access to potential new treatments including immunotherapies and personalised medicine. These trials are an integral part of our journey towards finding better, more effective treatments for cancer.
For further details or to arrange interviews: Ms Penny Fannin; Head, Communications and Marketing Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute;
M: +61 0417 125 700 | E: penny.fannin@onjcri.org.au