Hi,
I’m Laura Shawver. I’m an ovarian cancer survivor AND a cancer researcher who helped to commercialize a first-in class drug for two extremely hard to treat cancers (kidney cancer and a type of stomach cancer). I’ve spent more than two decades focusing on cancer causing proteins and have learned that cancers are very different, even if they look the same under a microscope. This means there is a “uniqueness” factor which underscores what all oncologists know today: there is no “one size fits all treatment” for cancer.
As soon as I was told I had ovarian cancer, I wanted to understand the blueprint of my cancer (molecular profile) so I could match my cancer to a drug that would work best for me. I thought this was a pretty basic place to start. Instead, I had to work hard to find a place to do my molecular profile as this service was not something that existed for ovarian cancer patients.
I wanted to change that.
I then discovered ovarian cancer patients have been treated almost the SAME way for the last 40 years using a “one size fits all” approach! Although the standard of care drug is initially effective, most advanced ovarian cancers will recur and are refractive. Then what?
I want to change this too.
It became CLEAR to me that it is time for a new strategy and one that can be done immediately with help from you. Patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer today can’t wait for new drugs to be developed.
I don’t think we need to.
There are several targeted drugs currently FDA approved or in clinical trials for other cancer types and some that may be useful for ovarian cancer patients that are resistant or refractory to platinum and taxane-based therapy.
Together, let’s provide a way to screen and match ovarian cancer patients’ tumors against the targets from already available cancer drugs. When we find a match, we should trial that drug.
This is a process that might be measured in a few years vs a few decades IF we collaborate, focus, and target our funding dollars strategically, we can help ovarian cancer patients TODAY.
That’s the concept behind the CLEARITY Foundation. Somehow, I feel that I’ve trained for this my whole life. Please join me in this venture.
