Prepared by: Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy

Ninety Six Cummings Point Road

Stamford, Connecticut 06902

203.358.8000

www.acgtfoundation.org

Contact: Jenifer Howard 203.273.4246 For Immediate Release

PROMISING RESEARCH TO FIGHT CANCER

Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy Celebrates Five Years of Dedication to Treating Cancer through Gene Therapy

(STAMFORD, Conn., October 4, 2006) – Gene therapy is the new horizon in treating cancer. That was the message that resonated with more than 500 people who attended the recent Fifth Anniversary Dinner for the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT) at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Old Greenwich, Conn., on September 28. The dinner celebrated five years of funding cancer gene therapy research by ACGT and honored Dr. Judah Folkman, director of the Vascular Biology Program in the Department of Surgery at Children’s Hospital in Boston, and a professor of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School, with an ACGT Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Folkman received the award for his discovery, visionary leadership and life-changing work in the field of angiogenesis, one of the five areas of research in gene therapy. Introducing Dr. Folkman at the dinner was Dr. John I. Gallin, Director of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center from Bethesda, Md. The ACGT Fifth Anniversary Dinner was chaired by Barbara Netter, co-founder of ACGT; Maxine Armstrong and Sharon Phillips, dinner chairs; Diane Darst, ACGT Board representative; Ginger Boldt, ACGT development director; and Daniel Cummings, ACGT Board member and business chair. The Fifth Anniversary Dinner raised more than $1.8 million for cancer gene therapy research to be awarded through ACGT’s Young and Senior Investigator Grant program.

ACGT, based in Stamford, Conn., is the only national public charity committed exclusively to the funding of cancer gene therapy research to combat all forms of cancer. In five short years since its inception, ACGT has provided grants of more than $14 million for cancer gene therapy. ACGT was founded in 2001 by Greenwich residents Edward and Barbara Netter. The Netter’s have always had an interest in science and healing. However, when confronted with the challenge of losing a family member to cancer, Edward and Barbara Netter took the challenge to heart and founded the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy. Initially, the thought of developing a public charity had barely occurred to the Greenwich couple, but after attending a lecture and a workshop on cancer gene therapy, the Netter’s were enormously inspired and felt that herein lie the answers to successful treatment of cancer and the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT), based in Stamford, Conn., was born in 2001.

“Gene Therapy was first used in the United States in 1990 at the NIH on a four year-old girl suffering from a deadly immune disorder – she is now 20 years old and alive today because of the treatment,” noted Dr. John Gallin, Director of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., in his speech at the ACGT Fifth Anniversary dinner. Dr. Gallin noted that gene therapy “works like a Trojan Horse – tricking the body by bringing treatment where it is needed in a hidden way, camouflaged by the body’s own cells.”

In fact, cancer gene therapy has been in the news recently with the recent published report in the September 2006 issue of Science magazine on the Rosenberg study from the National Cancer Institute that illustrated for the first time that gene therapy was successful in shrinking and even eradicating large, metastic tumors in melanoma patients. The Rosenberg study incorporated immunotherapy -- ACGT has issued 14 grants that address immunotherapy since 2002. Lung cancer patients have also seen progress in the use of gene therapy to treat tumors, with patients now living cancer-free years after treatment.

Connie West of Houston, Texas, is one such patient. Diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer in June of 1999, she was only given a short time to live. However, her oncologist was aware of a clinical trail using gene therapy at the Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas under the supervision of Dr. John Nemunaitis. Using a gene therapy treatment called GMAX, Dr. Nemunaitis surgically removed cancer cells from Ms. West’s lungs and created the vaccine using her own genes. Ms. West received six injections three weeks apart and by the end of 2000, was tumor free. In 2001, a tumor reappeared and she was treated again with gene therapy, which has minimal to zero side effects, and has been in complete remission since September 2001.

“The advice I would give other cancer patients is to never, never, never give up,” said Ms. West. “What works for you may just be around tomorrow’s corner.” Today, Ms. West is on an Institutional Review Board at the Baylor University Medical Center overseeing gene therapy clinical trials and helping more patients get the help they need.

“The research that ACGT funds encompasses all types of cancer,” noted Edward Netter, co-founder of ACGT. “We are very excited about our recent grant recipients that are implementing research projects addressing breast, lung, prostate, ovarian cancer, lymphoma/leukemia, neuroblastoma and gene delivery systems, such as nanotechnology.”

ACGT is overseen by a Scientific Advisory Committee of 18 of the nation’s preeminent physicians and researchers in the field of gene therapy. Since it began issuing grants in 2002, more than 97 major national research institutions have applied for funding. Those approved include 24 grants through ACGT’s Investigator Grants for Innovative Gene Therapy Research awarded to such institutions as Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Woman’s Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, St. Jude’s, University of California San Diego, Duke, University of Pennsylvania, Memorial Sloan Kettering, University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine, University of Washington, and many more.

“Private funding for cancer research is even more crucial today than just a few years ago,” noted Margaret Cianci, executive director of ACGT, in her presentation at the Fifth Anniversary Dinner. Cianci referred to recent cut-backs in cancer funding by the National Institutes of Health and the challenge that researchers have in securing funding to continue clinical trials and ground-breaking research. “ACGT is helping fund this important research and the work it is supporting today could be the cure tomorrow,” said Cianci.

Barbara Netter, co-founder of ACGT and event chair for the Fifth Anniversary Dinner was thrilled with the outpouring of support from both the local and business community at the event. “Having Dr. Folkman as our keynote speaker and first lifetime achievement awardee at our fifth anniversary celebration is very meaningful to everyone involved in cancer gene therapy,” noted Mrs. Netter. In relation to Dr. Gallin’s participation at the event, Mrs. Netter said “ACGT’s interest in supporting and awarding grants to young and senior investigators resonates with NIH’s interest in awarding grants to young investigators. Collaboration between researchers, research centers and academic institutions is a key component to pooling resources and helping find a cure for cancer.” Through ACGT’s fifth anniversary event, more than $1.8 million was raised in support of cancer gene therapy, which will be used to fund future scientific research and/or clinical translation. One hundred percent of all funds raised by ACGT goes directly to scientific study.

ACGT is committed to building alliances between philanthropic individuals, organizations and medical and academic institutions to promote gene therapy research to combat cancer. Supporters of ACGT become not only financial backers, but also true partners in the process, with the option to invest in the type of research and/or the type of cancer that is of most interest. ACGT believes that cancer gene therapy has the greatest potential to not only improve the quality of life of cancer patients, but to ultimately realize a cure for cancer – maybe in our own backyard. ACGT is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit public charity. To learn more about ACGT, visit www.ACGTfoundation.org or call 203-358-8000.

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