THE QUEST FOR IMPROVED CANCER TREATMENTS
FROM LAB BENCH TO BEDSIDE TO BETTER CARE , AMRF recently hosted a free public lecture about how drugs and treatments reach the cancer patients who need them
In New Zealand this year, around 21,000 people will be diagnosed with a serious cancer and around 8,000 of those will die from their disease within five years. Associate Professor Michael Hay and Professor Mark Elwood have data that leads them to believe that those rates could currently be improved by at least 10%, meaning 800 cancer related deaths in NZ could be prevented each year by using further research to optimise the use of the knowledge we have.
In the last 40 year period across all cancers, the rates of long term cancer survival over ten years have improved from around one in four to over 50%. This means that twice as many of our children, parents and loved ones will survive their cancer long term.
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There are multiple causes for this, with significant improvements in screening and detection, treatments and follow up plans all helping to contribute to this considerable increase in positive outcomes.
While New Zealand isn’t home to the biggest players in the cancer research field, our small academic laboratories are achieving great things. There are two key areas in which treatment can be improved: firstly in making new discoveries, and secondly in taking the knowledge we already have and using it more effectively.
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Funding is absolutely vital to these projects; they simply cannot succeed without the finances to support them. The lives of friends and loved ones within New Zealand could one day depend on this research, and the funds we can raise now will have a direct impact on the future success of our Kiwi cancer researchers.
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It’s not all about big donations either; small adds up to large as each person gives what they can, and every donation becomes a vital part of the glue that holds this research together.
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This is why we ask you for your support. How much you can give doesn’t matter, but the gifts mean everything – not only to us but to cancer sufferers throughout New Zealand and beyond, both now and in the future.
Enjoy video from this event:
Who is AMRF and what do you do?
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AMRF was established in 1955, and in its 66 years has invested more than $84 million into a wide range of medical research. An endowment funds all of AMRF’s administration costs, enabling 100% of donations to go directly to medical and health research.
AMRF’s key focus is to financially support medical researchers and their projects led out of the greater Auckland region, assist in furthering their international collaborations and gaining invaluable off-shore knowledge along with repatriating medical researchers and scientists back to New Zealand.
