Alk Positive

Alk Positive, Inc. is a patient driven 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation providing support, empathy, and research funding to change the future for alk-positive cancer patients. Alk-positive cancer is estimated to occur in approximately 100,000 patients worldwide every year. Although the vast majority of cases occur as lung cancer, it can also originate in many other organs. The median age for alk-positive patients at diagnosis is about 50 years with many in their forties, thirties and even younger. Approximately 55% of alk-positive patients are female and the disease occurs with people of all races. (continued on schedule o)in 2017, some alk-positive cancer patients and caregivers formed the outreach management group to partner with the lungevity foundation in order to raise funds for cancer research. In 2018, the partnership was formalized into a joint fundraising and research agreement with both lungevity and the go2 foundation for lung cancer. From 2017 to 2021, the partnerships generated over $4.7m in contributions and awareded $2.8m in translational research grants with the purpose of improving alk-positive cancer patient outcomes. By march 2021, the outreach management group had incorporated and was recognized by the irs as a 501(c)(3) non profit organization called Alk Positive Inc. during 2021-22 another $3.4m in contributions was generously raised with research grants totaling $2.6m awarded. Also in 2022, the first two employees were hired - a director of research and clinical affairs and an executive director.by far, the most effective treatments for alk-positive cancer are the roal Alk tyrosine kinase inhibitors (tki's). These are now fda approved in 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation versions, each generation more effective than the previous. However, while tki's have improved median overall survival from a few months to many years, alk-positive cancers inevitably mutate and become resistant to all tki's. The organization created the research review panel (committee) comprising volunteer alk-positive cancer patients, caregivers and world-renowned scientific and research experts to help review and award the most promising alk-positive cancer research projects to improve patient outcomes. In 2022, this reserach team was expanded to:-research acceleration committee: accelerate academic and biotech research that leads to new therapies for alk-positive patients, including immunotherapies and combination therapies, and new clinical trials, via collaboration with academia, industry and venture capital.-clinical trials committee: collaborate with academia and industry to develop new frameworks for clinical trials and to accelerate creation, effective enrollment and successful readouts for clinical trials involving and beneficial to alk-positive patients.-translational investigations group: fram and implement an internal alk-positive research program that addresses key questions for which answers will enable the development of new Alk therapies, niomarks of treatment response and accelerated clinical trials.