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$1 Million Donation from GlaxoSmithKline to Help Patients with Cancer and Their Families at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

$1 Million Donation from GlaxoSmithKline to Help Patients with Cancer and Their Families at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Published 09-30-08

Submitted by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, The

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is delighted to announce a $1 million gift from GlaxoSmithKline. This donation will be matched by Children's Hospital to create the GlaxoSmithKline Hope for Families Fund, a permanent endowment that will help children and young adults with relapsed cancers gain access to innovative new therapies at the Hospital. Specifically, the fund will provide assistance to patients from low-income or needy families for travel and living expenses they may incur while receiving care at Children's Hospital.

"We are thrilled and honored to be able to ease the financial burden for children and families who need the extraordinary care that Children's Hospital provides," said Dan Phelan, chief of staff, GlaxoSmithKline. "Improving the lives of people around the world is at the heart of our work at GlaxoSmithKline. The combined efforts of developing innovative medicines and vaccines alongside our work with communities can have a genuine impact on society. We are excited to work with Children's Hospital to help patients receive the care they need."

The Cancer Center at Children's Hospital is dedicated to eradicating childhood cancer through a bench-to-bedside program of discovery translated into new therapies. Currently, the program provides care to patients from across the nation and around world. Often children and family members need to stay for days, weeks and sometimes months to receive treatment.

"We are extremely grateful to GlaxoSmithKline for this remarkable donation," said Steven M. Altschuler, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "Corporate philanthropy is critical to furthering our mission to provide the very best family-centered care possible. When a child is diagnosed with cancer, the whole family is affected, and often consumed with emotional, logistical and economic stress. This fund will help to ease the financial burdens these families face, and allow them to focus on the health of their child."

"As our portfolio of new drugs for childhood cancer grew, we became concerned about the financial burden placed on families traveling to Children's Hospital," explained John M. Maris, M.D., acting chief of the Division of Oncology and director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at Children's Hospital. "Some might decide to forgo treatment because of limited financial ability. The Hope for Families Fund will allow all children with relapsed cancers to access Children's Hospital's services, regardless of their families' financial means."

The Hope for Families Fund will benefit needy children facing the most difficult-to-cure cancers. The fund will reimburse travel expenses including gas, plane tickets, taxi fares, and provide food vouchers, hotels and other necessary travel expenditures for the patient and a parent or family member. A special committee will select the families that will benefit from the fund based on those demonstrating the most pressing financial need.

The Cancer Center at Children's Hospital aims to provide the most skilled, compassionate care available. State-of-the-art facilities enable the Cancer Center to offer comprehensive, family-centered care from more than 40 nationally and internationally renowned pediatric oncologists. Their combined expertise spans every major form of childhood cancer. Each year, the Cancer Center treats 500 new patients and follows more than 4,000 patients, making the program one of the largest pediatric cancer programs in the world. Recently, the program has focused heavily on developing new drugs for childhood cancer, and the national referral-basis for these unique clinical trials led to the need for a program such as the Hope for Families Fund. Therefore with the help of GlaxoSmithKline, Children's Hospital is moving one step closer to insuring all children with cancer are provided the best possible care.

The Cancer Center at Children's Hospital is a Phase I institution and leader within the Children's Oncology Group. Working with other elite institutions in this collaborative group, as well as with several other cooperative networks, enables Children's Hospital researchers to fast-track novel therapies that require testing in children. Perhaps even more importantly, there is a broad laboratory and gene-hunting program at Children's Hospital that is discovering the new therapies that are now making their way to the clinic. A commitment to advancing treatment begins with basic and translational research. The Center's leadership role within Children's Oncology Group allows them to offer cutting-edge treatment not available at other institutions from the pediatric oncology experts who translate basic science into these new treatments.

About GlaxoSmithKline: GlaxoSmithKline "“ one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies "“ is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For company information and details of the company's updated product development pipeline, visit GlaxoSmithKline at www.gsk-us.com.

About Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children's Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country, ranking third in National Institutes of Health funding. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 430-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit www.chop.edu.

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, The

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