Proceeds from 50th Birthday Celebration help establish The Clearity Foundation
Patient Group Advocates an Individual Approach to Ovarian Cancer Treatment
As a researcher in the war on cancer for over 20 years, Dr. Laura Shawver is an expert in the disease and its many manifestations. She studied the science of cancer, a variety of drugs and their ability to eradicate the disease, and she even helped commercialize a new drug for extremely hard to treat kidney and stomach cancers. In 2006 she was stunned to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer. To add to her dismay, she quickly learned that the scientific innovations that were being applied to improve the treatment of other cancers were not benefiting patients with ovarian cancer. In fact, little has changed in over forty years for women with ovarian tumors. She founded The Clearity Foundation in order to change the status quo of ovarian cancer treatment and bring innovative science to patients fighting the disease.
While she was in the throes of her diagnosis and making decisions about her course of treatment, Dr. Shawver found that the options for herself and the more than 21,000 other U.S. women diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year are extremely limited. Oncologists and researchers on the cutting edge have been using a technique called molecular profiling to understand what makes each patient’s cancer unique. Molecular profiling generates a signature of sorts for a tumor, which makes it possible to match drugs that target and destroy a tumor with that particular signature.
Dr. Shawver knew that if she and her oncologist could identify the unique profile of her own tumor, they might be able to match it to a drug that, when added to standard chemotherapy, would give her cancer a one-two punch and improve her outcome. At the time of her diagnosis, she searched but could not find a standard service to analyze her tumor’s profile, and she opted for the same treatment that ovarian cancer patients have received for over four decades.
Although the standard drug cocktail for ovarian cancer patients is initially effective, most advanced ovarian cancers will relapse and will not respond to chemotherapy the second time around. For these patients, only 30% have a chance of a five-year survival. However, molecular profiling may reveal alternative treatments for ovarian cancers that recur, whether using FDA-approved drugs or investigational medicines currently in clinical trials. It is quickly becoming standard knowledge among oncologists that every tumor is unique and that a one-size-fits-all approach to cancer treatment is no longer viable.
Driven by the desire to provide the benefits of molecular profiling to any ovarian cancer patient who seeks it, Dr. Shawver established The Clearity Foundation to offer diagnostic services that profile patients’ tumors. With this additional information, a patient can work with her medical team to customize her treatment and match her cancer to a drug combination that has the best chance to work for her.
The Clearity Foundation’s model differs from other patient advocacy organizations that focus on disease awareness, early detection and education. It is the only non-profit organization focused on offering molecular profiling to ovarian cancer patients. The foundation provides access to qualified laboratories that conduct the tumor analysis and pays for the tests to be performed if the patient’s insurance does not cover the costs.
“The Clearity Foundation provides actionable services where progress can be measured in a few years versus a few decades. By collaborating with doctors and the pharmaceutical industry, we are working to match patients with treatments that can help them improve their chances of survival,” said Laura Shawver, Ph.D., Clearity Foundation Founder. “Ultimately, we will help design clinical trials so that the newest cancer drugs that are extending the lives of patients with other cancers can be evaluated and hopefully approved for ovarian cancer.”
“As both a patient and a scientist, I think it’s clear that it is time for a new strategy for patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer. We’ve made great strides in cancer research and now The Clearity Foundation will make these innovations available to more patients who are demanding better treatment options today,” Dr. Shawver said.
