Funding Extension Announced for World-First B-cell Lymphoma Research

Snowdome Foundation has committed to a further two years of funding for world-first research led by Dr Adrian Minson at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, aimed at optimising immunotherapy for aggressive B-cell lymphomas.

Dr Adrian Minson was awarded the 2024 Snowdome Fellowship and through this support, has made significant strides in improving outcomes for patients with aggressive lymphoma. This has included the development and implementation of four investigator-initiated clinical trials, with more than $10 million leveraged from various sources to bring the trials to fruition.

The four trials, TARMAC, COALITION, GolDiLOX (ALLG NHL37) and EpcorSandwich (ALLG NHL38) have together provided more than 150 high-risk lymphoma patients with access to world-first novel immunotherapy combination treatments, with promising results. Notably, 86 per cent of patients with high-risk aggressive lymphoma in the COALTION trial showed no disease progression after two years. This is a significant improvement, given only 50 to 60 per cent of patients are currently cured with standard frontline therapy.

The four clinical trials within Dr Minson’s portfolio represent the possibility of a paradigm shift in the treatment of aggressive lymphomas.  With the trials now nearing completion, and subsequent follow-up trials commencing, an unmet need was identified for dedicated research time and support to progress this work into its next critical phase.

Funding provided by Snowdome will allow Dr Minson to realise the completion of study recruitment, analyse clinical data, collate biomarker samples, and link clinical findings with laboratory and translational research findings, all with the goal to establish a new global standard of care for high-risk lymphoma patients.

Snowdome’s Chief Executive, Vincent Ramos, said the additional two-year funding reflects Snowdome’s commitment to supporting clinicians and researchers to advance their critical work. “Long-term support allows researchers to fully focus on their work, build momentum, and translate promising discoveries into better outcomes for patients. As the 2024 Snowdome Fellow, Dr Adrian Minson, working with Professor Michael Dickinson, has made remarkable progress in improving outcomes for lymphoma patients, and we are proud to continue supporting this groundbreaking research.”