CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In recognition of this month’s Lung Cancer Awareness Month, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) today announced the launch of an inaugural awareness day for anaplastic lymphoma kinase positive (ALK+) metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and their care partners. The awareness day is the first of its kind to specifically focus on ALK+ NSCLC and will be held on November 15th and subsequently on the third Tuesday of each November.
“This year we’re recognizing our 25 year anniversary as a company and we are extremely proud of our research efforts for rare cancers. This inaugural ALK+ Day, a collaborative engagement with the lung cancer patient advocacy community, has the goal to place progress made in the ALK+ NSCLC space within the context of advances made in non-small cell lung cancer research,” stated Timothy P. Clackson, Ph.D., president of research and development and chief scientific officer at ARIAD. “As we engage with the lung cancer community we aim to help raise awareness about ALK+ NSCLC and encourage others to join the conversation about the R&D progress in this rare cancer space, as well as the importance of mutation testing.”
This month, ARIAD seeks to support patient education and community, while also advancing innovative science focused on rare cancers. Through its collaboration with the Lung Cancer Foundation of America (LCFA), the community is encouraged to talk about “The Little Things” that lung cancer patients are thankful for, that their lungs allow them to do, using the social media hashtag #LittleThingsLCFA during the month of November.
“We are excited to work with ARIAD on building awareness about ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer during Lung Cancer Awareness Month in order to highlight the progress and work still-to-be-done in battling lung cancer. Our mission is the dramatic improvement in survivorship of lung cancer patients through the funding of transformative science, with the ultimate goal of curing the disease,” said Kim Norris, president and co-founder of the Lung Cancer Foundation of America.
As part of its ongoing commitment to patients, ARIAD has also launched the Living with ALK website to help patients and caregivers access support, resources, and information for living with ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer.
About ALK+ NSCLC
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common form of lung cancer, accounting for approximately 85 percent of the estimated 228,190 new cases of lung cancer diagnosed each year in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) was first identified as a chromosomal rearrangement in anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL). Genetic studies indicate that chromosomal rearrangements in ALK are key drivers in a subset of NSCLC patients as well. Approximately three to eight percent of patients with NSCLC have a rearrangement in the ALK gene.
About ARIAD
ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc., headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is focused on discovering, developing and commercializing precision therapies for patients with rare cancers. ARIAD is working on new medicines to advance the treatment of rare forms of chronic and acute leukemia, lung cancer and other rare cancers. ARIAD utilizes computational and structural approaches to design small-molecule drugs that overcome resistance to existing cancer medicines. For additional information, visit http://www.ariad.com or follow ARIAD on Twitter (@ARIADPharm).
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, each of which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Any statements contained herein which do not describe historical facts, including, but not limited to the statements related to our research efforts, our goals for increasing ALK+ NSCLC awareness, and our education, awareness and community programs, are forward-looking statements that are based on management’s expectations and are subject to certain factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, outcome of events, timing and performance to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These factors, risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, our ability to successfully commercialize and generate profits from sales of our products; our ability to meet anticipated clinical trial commencement, enrollment and completion dates and regulatory filing dates for our products and product candidates and to move new development candidates into the clinic; our ability to execute on our key corporate initiatives; regulatory developments and safety issues, including difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory and pricing and reimbursement approvals to market our products; competition from alternative therapies; our reliance on the performance of third-party manufacturers, specialty pharmacies, distributors and other collaborators for the supply, distribution, development and/or commercialization of our products and product candidates; the occurrence of adverse safety events with our products and product candidates; the costs associated with our research, development, manufacturing, commercialization and other activities; the conduct, timing and results of preclinical and clinical studies of our products and product candidates, including that preclinical data and early-stage clinical data may not be replicated in later-stage clinical studies; the adequacy of our capital resources and the availability of additional funding; the ability to satisfy our contractual obligations, including under our leases, convertible debt and royalty financing agreements; patent protection and third-party intellectual property claims; litigation and government investigations; our operations in foreign countries with or through third parties; risks related to key employees, markets, economic conditions, health care reform, prices and reimbursement rates; and other risk factors detailed in our public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Except as otherwise noted, these forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of these statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after this press release. We caution investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
