The LLS Therapy Acceleration Program

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society pic
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Image: http://www.lls.org

Keefe Gorman, a managing director with Merrill Lynch, engages in outdoor sports such as skiing during his leisure time. Moreover, Keefe Gorman supports various charitable endeavors, including the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS).

LLS, a voluntary health-focused organization, was founded in 1949. It is committed to efforts to find cures for blood cancer and strives to fund research and patient support. LLS currently supports more than 300 research projects. One of its initiatives is the Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP). The program selects and funds novel projects relating to diagnostics, therapies, or supportive care that have the capacity to raise the level of care for blood cancer patients, particularly in areas where medical needs are unmet to a large extent.

The TAP review process and funding are separate from standard LLS grants. TAP funding goes towards companies and clinical investigators with the goal of improving their access to necessary resources or helping them find partners to assist with processes such as registration, testing, and marketing. For instance, LLS and Kite Pharma, Inc., have partnered to augment the development of KTE-C19, Kite’s primary product candidate for treating patients who have refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma.