Stamford's Alliance For Cancer Gene Therapy Celebrates In NYC

STAMFORD, Conn. -- Stamford's Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy's "Achieving Cancer Remission with Cell and Gene Therapies" event attracted more than 100 people to New York City last week.

More than 100 donors, scientists, biotech representatives and physicians attended the Tuesday night event at the Harvard Club of New York City, according to a news release.The event "highlighted recent tremendous strides made in combating cancer with cell and gene therapy treatments, and served as appreciation for donors who have committed time and funds to furthering research and clinical trials across the nation," according to the release.

Our donors have allowed top scientific minds to explore this new and promising avenue of cancer treatment, and their philanthropy is directly linked to the lives saved so far, said Barbara Netter, who co-founded the alliance in 2001 with her husband, Edward, in the release.

Netter later said that "much additional research needs to be funded in order to achieve the goal of the fully successful treatment of all types of cancer," according to the release. Netter has assumed the mantle of president of ACGT to "chart a strategic course for the organizations continued success" and further the goal, according to the release.

Guests at the evening event were treated to a reception at the Harvard Club, followed by a salutation from host Dr. Savio Woo, according to the release.

"Dr. Woo Chairman of ACGTs Scientific Advisory Council and Professor of Hematology and Oncology at the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City was instrumental in ACGTs founding over a decade ago," representatives said in the release.

Connie Burnett-West, a cancer survivor "who overcame a critical case lung cancer with gene and cell therapy treatment," also attended the event, according to the release.

Surgery and radiation werent options, and I was told I had limited hope for recovery, Burnett-West said in the release. But after a sixth-month course of gene therapy, Ive been in remission for over 10 years. I could not have imagined a treatment so easy and effective.

The evening also featured a presentation from three of ACGTs Research Fellows, including Carl H. June (M.D., University of Pennsylvania), Laurence Cooper (M.D., Ph.D., MD Anderson Cancer Center) and Michel Sadelain (M.D., Ph.D., Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center), according to the release. The three "spoke of the breakthroughs and growing momentum that gene and cell therapy has achieved with the support of ACGT," according to the release.

ACGT has the potential to provide less expensive and less harrowing cancer treatment and, ultimately, a cure, Dr. Carl June said in the release. And all of ACGTs life-saving work was funded through philanthropy.