Washington, D.C., September 10, 2015 — Northern Virginia-based non-profit, The Side-Out Foundation, was honored by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA Research) with the Community Champion Research & Hope Award at a celebration in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday evening, the foundation announced. The award recognizes Side-Out for its outstanding achievements in the fight against breast cancer.
The 2015 Research & Hope Award program celebrates the progress and promise of Oncology Research and Care, and celebrates researchers and patient advocates for their roles in advancing innovative biopharmaceutical research and improving patient care. The awards are presented in five categories including academic research, biopharmaceutical industry research, excellence in advocacy and activism, community champion, and visibility and progress.
“We’ve shown that amazing advances can come from driven teams,” said Rick Dunetz, executive director of Side-Out. “In 10 short years we’ve raised 10 million dollars through grassroots work with volleyball players, coaches, and families. That money has gone directly to funding our own clinical trials, called the Side-Out Protocol, that treat metastatic cancer in innovative and breakthrough ways, based not on the type of cancer, but on its molecular architecture. This gets us better therapy prediction and better results and closer to removing the word ‘terminal’ from our cancer vernacular.”
Side-Out was founded in 2004 and teams with the volleyball community to inspire science and hope in the match against breast cancer. Tens of thousands of volleyball players, coaches and families across the country have joined together to raise funds for Side-Out by participating in various programs, including the foundation’s main initiative, Dig Pink®.
Side-Out’s dedication to its own research is seen through the progress of the Side-Out Protocol, which combats cancer through molecular profiling and a collaboration of treatment selection committees. These committees are made up of oncologists and other scientists from all across the country and specialize in emerging techniques that look at every aspect of a particular patient’s cancer. Side-Out is able to bring data and individualized drugs and treatment plans to patients in its trials within just 10 days. Currently, only two percent of all cancer research funding goes toward any type of metastatic cancer, which makes Side-Out’s trials a major advancement in the field. The foundation plans to begin accruing patients in early January 2016 for a new program within the protocol, Side-Out 3, which will allow greater quality and extension of life for breast cancer patients. It is currently in the early stages of finalizing and obtaining approval for the new program, working with an independent review board and completing clinical trial agreements with labs across the country.
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Side-Out’s trials are at the forefront of treating cancer. They have directly and efficiently slowed the effects of stage 4 cancer, giving patients more quality time with their families and getting them closer to the day we find a cure.
To learn more about The Side-Out Foundation, visit side-out.org. With questions or media requests, please contact Meredith Geisler at 703-740-5015 or [email protected]. For more information on the 2015 Research & Hope Awards, including awardee biographies and videos, visit https://www.phrma.org/press-release/phrma-honors-2015-research-and-hope-award-recipients.
ABOUT THE SIDE-OUT FOUNDATION
The Side-Out Foundation, founder of Dig Pink®, teams with the volleyball community to inspire science and hope in the match against breast cancer. The only charity using the power and teamwork of the volleyball community to beat cancer, Side-Out raises millions of dollars through Dig Pink® and other programs that go directly to cutting-edge clinical trials, which are successfully extending the lives of people with stage 4 breast cancer. Unlike most organizations, money donated to Side-Out goes directly to its own innovative research that is slowing the progression of metastatic cancer, and improving the way all cancers are treated. Through Dig Pink® and other programs, Side-Out coaches thousands of young people in skills such as teamwork, leadership and perseverance, and gives them opportunities to live meaningful and healthy lives. Money raised through Dig Pink® supports Side-Out’s game-changing cancer research and programs to develop the whole player.
ABOUT PhRMA
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country’s leading innovative biopharmaceutical research companies, which are devoted to discovering and developing medicines that enable patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. Since 2000, PhRMA member companies have invested more than $600 billion in the search for new treatments and cures, including an estimated $51.2 billion in 2014 alone.
