Large Donation Advances Cancer Research

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Article Date: 13 Jan 2010 - 1:00 PST

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Karolinska Institutet has received a donation of SEK 50 million from Marit and Hans Rausing for a large-scale research project on breast cancer. The overall objective of the project, which will be one of the most extensive breast cancer projects in the world, is to reduce the incidence of breast cancer by 40 to 50 per cent.

"We are very happy to be donating money to the fight against breast cancer, especially in light of our own family history," says Märit Rausing. "Hans's mother and grandmother both died of the disease, and his father, Ruben, put considerable effort into finding a cure. Of course, it's also important when you think that breast cancer is one of the most common diseases."

Some 4 million women in the western world have been diagnosed with breast cancer, making it currently the most common form of cancer in this demographic. In Sweden alone, 7,000 new cases are discovered every year, which means that one in nine women will develop the disease, which claims 1,500 lives every year.

"If we're to prevent healthy individuals from falling sick, we need to know the causative factors," says Professor Per Hall, who will be leading the study which is conducted in corporation with Professor Jonas Bergh. "This, in turn, will make it possible to take more effective preventative measures, from changing a behaviour to medical treatment."

In recent years, effective preventative measures have proved highly successful in many areas of medicine, such as heart disease. Unfortunately, similar progress has not been made for cancer. Now, with the Märit and Hans Rausing's Breast Cancer Initiative, Karolinska Institutet is confident that advances can be made by focusing on the healthy individual and the early stages of the disease.

"Karolinska Institutet's research world-unique competencies in the field were, of course, a key deciding factor in our choice of recipient," says Hans Rausing. "But it was also important to put the money into a research project that we know will quickly convert its results into new treatment methods and thus be of benefit to both healthcare and the wider community."

Karolinska Institutet's president, Professor Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson, welcomes the initiative: "The Rausings' generous donation will give us resources to muster for a study that will generate information that is unique in the world, and that will give scientists fantastic new opportunities to make breakthroughs in the diagnosis and treatment of the millions of women who are living with, or will be affected by breast cancer," she says.

Source: Karolinska Institutet

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