Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute
The Foundation created the first research centre in Spain exclusively dedicated to researching leukaemia and other blood diseases
The French writer Victor Hugo once said: "The future has many names. For the weak, it is the unattainable. For the fearful, it means the unknown. For the courageous it means opportunity". At the José Carreras Foundation, we think of the future of the "brave", of those who have leukaemia. For our organization, the future has only one opportunity: scientific research.
The José Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute has the following aims:
• Encourage the development of research in leukaemia and other haematological malignancies
• Contribute to the training of new researchers
• Facilitate the implementation of new treatments
• Establish synergies with other national and international research groups
• Improve health and survival of patients
Supporting scientific research has been one of the biggest priorities of the José Carreras Foundation. Since 1988, the various José Carreras Foundations around the world have invested more than €100 million in research and have financed over 800 research projects. Yet in spite of all this progress, and even though the percentages of patients cured have risen considerably one in four children and half of all adult patients still die from leukaemia.
This is why the José Carreras Foundation has decided to give a little bit extra. The commitment to the patient is our raison d'être and this is why it is fundamentally important to increase scientific research activity focussed on leukaemia and other malignant blood diseases. This is why, in partnership with the public administration, the Foundation has embarked upon a historic and unprecedented project: the first Spanish research centre to focus exclusively on leukaemia and other blood related diseases, and one of the only such centres in the world.
The Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute will be an unprecedented institution which, with the work and rigour of the global research community, will make use of the most innovative technologies to win the fight against leukaemia.
Leukaemia, together with other malignant blood diseases, is one of the most important challenges in the study and treatment of human cancers. In fact, they have represented and continue to represent, an example of a curable cancer. It is perhaps not surprising that the two cancers that can currently be cured in a large proportion of patients are Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in children and Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
Every year 5,000 people in Spain are diagnosed with leukaemia. Moreover, other malignant homeopathies such as lymphomas and multiple myeloma affect respectively 7,000 and 2,000 new patients every year in our country. Regarding the children, leukaemia is the most common paediatric cancer with an incidence of 30% of all paediatric cancers.
