November 14th, 2019

Building Momentum, Together

Inside Prostate Cancer Foundation and Movember’s Unique Partnership
Where The Money Goes
5 MIN READ
 

Since 2007, Movember has donated over $56 million to Prostate Cancer Foundation, funding 45 scientific research awards that have vastly improved the understanding and treatment of prostate cancer. The relationship has supported a global, community-oriented effort dedicated to saving lives and improving men’s health.
 
Only 40 years ago, prostate cancer and its treatment looked a lot different— and much bleaker. The disease affected 200,000 U.S. men in 1993 alone, with 44,000 deaths. There was a lack of both governmental support and private funding, and support groups were often the only organizations working to raise awareness towards the disease.
 
Fast forward to today, and it is clear that the Movember x PCF partnership has blazed a trail in supporting prostate cancer research and building its community-at-large.
 
Mike Milken founded the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) in 1993 after his own diagnosis. There was little attention brought to this disease, and treatment at the time often left patients and their families physically and emotionally depleted. Mr. Milken witnessed the frustrating absence of resources, research and support for prostate cancer, so he took matters into his own hands and founded PCF. The organization focused on speeding up the science that could be translated from the lab to the clinic. PCF also organized a renowned annual meeting where the world’s top researchers presented their findings, creating opportunities for collaboration and the acceleration of new discoveries.
 
While PCF undertook the challenge of pioneering prostate cancer research in the United States, Australia’s Movember movement began its global mission in 2003 to change the face of men’s health. Movember’s founders witnessed the same frustrating absence of resources, research and support for prostate cancer and began building awareness and raising funds for this disease. In 2007, Movember officially crossed the Pacific and brought the conversation to the United States in partnership with PCF. These two organizations saw eye-to-eye on the importance of preserving men’s health and funding projects which could push the field of prostate cancer care. Since the start of this partnership, Movember has donated over $56 million to PCF, enabling brilliant minds to make groundbreaking discoveries for the global prostate cancer research effort.
 

 
“Movember has been one of the greatest single sources of funding for prostate cancer research.”
 

Movember has been one of the greatest single sources of funding for prostate cancer research,” PCF President and CEO Dr. Jonathan Simons said. “Not a lot of organizations have dedicated themselves to the cause as much as they have, and it shows through the groundbreaking developments we have made since 2007.”
 
Today, the landscape for prostate cancer is radically different. Formerly one of the “hidden cancers,” the disease is now highly treatable, as death rates have declined by more than 50%. Since 1993, the lives of patients diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer have been extended by at least two years. There are now a multitude of care options, including two recently approved drugs whose development was funded in part by the Movember x PCF partnership. So far, Movember and PCF have funded more than 45 team Challenge Awards, large investment multi-year team science projects that have a high potential for delivering new treatments.
 
In 2019, Movember x PCF Challenge Awards gave $2.5 million to support leading cancer investigators. With funds coming directly from Movember as well as the 2018 Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, PCF and Movember selected three groundbreaking studies that aim to eradicated the disease which affects 1 in 9 American men.

 
“These are all required to bring the best and brightest scientists and doctors into the field, so we can make advances and cure this cancer.”
 

Dr. Peter Nelson and Dr. John Lee of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle were co-principal investigators on one of the three studies funded by the Movember x PCF partnership this year. Their team investigates multiple facets of prostate cancer, including how genes are expressed in tumors as well as characterizing the environment surrounding the tumor, using this information to explore novel prognostic and therapeutic approaches. The 2019 Movember x PCF Challenge Award was granted to Dr. Lee and co-investigator Dr. Nelson to develop a new immunotherapy treatment for small cell neuroendocrine prostate cancer, a highly aggressive and incurable form of advanced, therapy-resistant prostate cancer. 
 
When asked about what advances the field of cancer research, Dr. Nelson credits the vital importance of communities and platforms such as the partnership between Movember and PCF.
 
“These are all required to bring the best and brightest scientists and doctors into the field, so we can make advances and cure this cancer,” Dr. Nelson remarked. By supporting both research and resources, PCF and Movember have been first-in-field figureheads for the treatment and cure of prostate cancer.
 
With over 12 years in the books, this partnership has helped save countless lives and dramatically transform prostate cancer treatment through a global community of innovation and support.
 
Please donate to Movember today to help us continue this research and support our 2030 goal of halving the number of dying from prostate cancer, and men facing serious ongoing side effects from treatment.

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