What is Glioblastoma

Glioblastoma is an aggressive and incurable brain cancer.  While rare compared to other cancers like breast and lung, the human toll of glioblastoma is staggering - nearly 12,000 people of all ages are diagnosed with this tumor every year in the United States. As the tumor arises in the brain and ultimately robs its victims of their physical and cognitive abilities, the devastation brought to patients and families from this lethal tumor is difficult to quantify and can only be understood by those who have witnessed it firsthand. 

Since 2005, treatment for glioblastoma has changed very little. Most patients have surgery to remove as much of the tumor as can be done safely.  This is followed by a difficult course of brain radiation and a chemotherapy pill called temozolomide.  Once the tumor recurs after this treatment, which it inevitably does, there has never been a single treatment demonstrated to improve someone's survival compared to supportive care alone. In other words, we have no effective therapies for glioblastoma that has recurred after standard radiation and chemotherapy. 

Our goal is to change this. We envision that glioblastoma may one day be treated as a chronic disease that can be kept at bay for many years, and one day become a curable cancer.  The way to achieve this is through clinical trials of new treatments. A clinical trial is a research study through which oncologists test cutting-edge treatments that aim to combat this tumor in completely novel ways. But clinical trials, as well as the research needed to get them off the ground, are incredibly expensive.  This is where we need your help to move the field forward and provide hope to all patients and families who have been impacted by this terrible disease.