ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Dec. 30, 2019 - METAvivor Research and Support Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for stage IV metastatic breast cancer (MBC), announces 32 grant awards totaling $5,000,000. These research grants will enhance the understanding of metastatic breast cancer, help improve current treatments and develop greatly needed therapeutic options to combat this complicated disease. Since its founding in 2009, METAvivor has put 100% of donations into its peer-reviewed research grant program.

Metastatic breast cancer (also known as stage IV or advanced stage cancer) is the spread of breast cancer to other parts of the body -- most commonly to the bones, liver, lungs and/or brain. Approximately 30% of breast cancer patients metastasize, with the mean survival after diagnosis being 33 months. In the US, only 2-5% of all cancer research funds are dedicated to Stage IV cancer research – yet 98% of all breast cancer deaths are caused by a metastasis.

"2019 was METAvivor's 10-year anniversary and we set a goal to have our biggest grant funding cycle." said Beth Fairchild, President of the Board of Directors "We exceeded our goal with the help of our committed supporters and fundraisers. We have to continue to increase funding for metastatic breast cancer or we will continue to lose lives to metastatic breast cancer"

METAvivor is awarding grants from four award programs. The Early Career Investigator Award program is focused on funding grants for early career metastatic breast cancer researchers, The Translational Research Grant awards program is targeted at career metastasis researchers with a total award of up to $200,000 per grant for 2019, a $100,000 Advisor's Award and the Founder's Award of $500,000 is a special grant category focused on clinical research.

METAvivor is pleased to present the grants based on funds from our donors and fundraisers who have helped METAvivor to achieve and exceed its challenge goal for 2019.

Beth Fairchild, President of METAvivor, said, "The 32 grants that we are presenting today, bring our grand total of metastatic breast cancer specific research awards to $12,400,000. It is our sincere hope that these grants, and the vital research that they fund, will move us closer to fulfilling our promise to transform metastatic breast cancer from a terminal disease into a chronic, manageable condition. We would like to thank our donors, fundraisers, research partners, sponsors and the breast cancer community for their ongoing support and commitment."

METAvivor 2019 grant recipients:

METAVIVOR FOUNDERS' AWARD

Presented In Memory of Karen Presswood, Co-Founder of METAvivor - Massimo Cristofanilli, MD, Northwestern University – "Unravelling New Cytokine-Mediated Mechanisms to Enhance Response to CDK4/6 inhibition in ER+/HER2-Metastatic Breast Cancer"

Presented In Memory of Avis Halberstadt, Co-Founder of Metavivor - Andrew Ewald, PhD, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine – "Targeting the survival pathways required by established breast cancer metastases"

Presented In Memory of Rhonda Rhodes, Co-Founder of Metavivor - Carol Lange, PhD, University of Minnesota – "Targeting Activated Progesterone Receptors in Metastatic Breast Cancer"

METAVIVOR EARLY CAREER INVESTIGATOR AWARDS

Erin Remme, Minneapolis Metsquerade Presents - Prasanna Alluri, MD, PhD, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas – "Identifying Therapeutic Vulnerabilities in RB1-negative, ER-positive Breast Cancers"

2019 New York Fashion Week Presents, In Honor of Chiara D'Agostino - Lucia Borriello. PhD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine- "Targeting the Mechanism of Re-Dissemination and Metastasis in Stage IV Breast Cancer"

METAvivors of New Jersey Presents - Joshua Drago, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center – "The intestinal microbiome and response to chemoimmunotherapy in patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer (MTNBC)"

Presented In Memory of Kristin Todd - Mick Edmonds, PhD, MS, UAB School of Medicine – "A novel strategy targeting SRC tyrosine kinase for breast cancer metastasis"

Northwest Arkansas Metsquerade Presented In Memory of Angie Powell - Colt Egelston, PhD, City of Hope – "Bispecific monoclonal antibodies for treatment of advanced breast cancer"

Triangle Metsquerade Presented In Memory of Kristie Godwin Rolan - Jeremy Force DO, MA, Duke University – "Discovery and validation of putative oncogenic ROS1 alterations in breast cancer"

Abbey Rapoport Presents - Jamie Fornetti, BA, PhD, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah - "Novel RON Inhibitors for the Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer"

2019 New York Fashion Week Presented In Honor of Michael Kovarik - Antonio Giordano, MD, PhD - Medical University of South Carolina - "Phase 1 clinical trial of Polo-like kinase 1 inhibition with nab-paclitaxel in TP53 mutated metastatic triple negative breast cancer"

2019 METAbash Presents - Sheheryar Kabraji, BMBCh, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – "Targeting drug-resistant quiescent cancer cells in breast cancer brain metastases"

Jungwoo Lee, PhD, University of Massachusetts Amherst - "Tissue-engineered bone to determine the impact of chemotherapy-induced premature aging in breast tumor metastasis"

Erin Remme, Minneapolis Metsquerade Presents - Michael Lukey PhD, Cornell University – "Targeting the unique metabolic profile of brain metastases in breast cancer"

Miles4Metavivor Presented In Memory of Connie Cadwell - Ashley Makela, PhD - The Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University - "Understanding extracellular vesicle trafficking in established breast cancer metastases: In vivo tri-modal imaging provides longitudinal and quantitative information on accumulation in metastatic sites"

METAribbon Challengers Present - Madeline Oudin, BSc, MSc, PhD, Tufts University – "Investigating how obesity-driven changes in the tumor microenvironment promote metastatic outgrowth and chemoresistance in metastatic TNBC

Presented In Memory of Rebecca McNally Gilden - Blessed mother, wife, daughter, engineer, friend and breast cancer advocate - Lijuan Sun, PhD, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory – "Reprogramming innate-adaptive immune interactions to eliminate metastatic breast cancer "

METAVIVOR ADVISORS AWARDS

Northwest Arkansas Metsquerade Presented In Memory of Wendy Taylor - Stuart Martin, PhD, University of Maryland School of Medicine – "Reducing the risk of chemotherapy-induced scattering of metastatic triple-negative breast tumors"

Northwest Arkansas Metsquerade Presented In Memory of Valerie Wright - Danny Welch, PhD, University of Kansas Medical Center University of Kansas Cancer Center – "New inhibitors of breast cancer metastasis"

METAVIVOR TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH AWARDS

Andrei Bakin, PhD, Roswell Park Cancer Center – "A Novel Combination Therapy to Improve Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer"

Sanchita Bhatnagar, PhD, University of Virginia School of Medicine - "Targeting the mechanisms of oncogenic TRIM37 in metastatic triple negative breast cancer"

Rolf Brekken, PhD, UT Southwestern – "Pleiotrophin as a driver of the immune metastatic niche"

Minneapolis Metsquerade Presented In Memory of Tarah Harvey - Andrew Brenner, MD, PhD, Mays Cancer Center – "Permeability of Sacituzumab Govitecan in Breast Cancer Brain Metastases"

Orlando Metsquerade Presented In Memory of Destiny Rivera and Stephanie Sunday, Barbara Fingleton, PhD, Vanderbilt University - "Tumor targeting of an immune super-activator in male and female metastatic breast cancer"

Southwest Florida Metsquerade Presented In Memory of Amanda De Fiebre, Barry Hudson, PhD, University of Miami – "Therapeutic targeting of RAGE in metastatic breast cancer"

Fraternal Order of Eagles Presents, Yibin Kang, PhD, Princeton University – "Preventing Regulatory T cell Induction to Enhance Immunity Against Breast Cancer Metastases"

Stephen Kron, MD, PhD, The University of Chicago - "Mechanisms determining local and systemic anti-tumor immune response after metastasis-directed image-guided radiation combined with PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint blockade"

Chicago Metsquerade Presented In Memory of Lauren Smoke - Sandra McAllister, PhD, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Harvard Medical School – "A new approach to identifying effective therapeutic strategies that eliminate de novo and recurrent stage IV triple-negative breast cancer"

Yusuke Shiozawa, MD, PhD, Wake Forest University – "An osteolytic bone lesion-targeted radiopharmaceutical for bone metastatic breast cancer"

METAvivor Facebook Fundraisers Presents - Zena Werb, PhD, University of California, San Francisco – "Identification of Novel Cell Targets for Metastatic Breast Cancer Therapy"

Jing Yang, PhD, University of California, San Diego – "Overcoming therapy resistance in TNBC metastases through targeted inhibition of Periostin"

ABOUT METAVIVOR

METAvivor Research and Support Inc. is an Annapolis-based, 501(c)(3), volunteer-led, non-profit organization founded by metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients in 2009. The organization's main focus is to fund critical research that will lead to advances in treatment options, quality of life and survival for patients diagnosed with MBC. Since 2009, METAvivor has awarded 100 research grants totaling $12.4 million. METAvivor is the only national organization with a peer-reviewed grant program aimed at exclusively funding MBC research, and 100% of all donations go to fund research.

METAvivor also raises awareness of MBC, provides support for people living with this disease, and offers opportunities for others to help make a difference for the metastatic community. METAvivor has gained a rapidly growing following within the breast cancer community, and has become a leader in its field.

Visit us at www.METAvivor.org, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Contact
Sonya Negley