Be The Match Foundation (USA)
Be The Match®, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP) in the United States, is a community of health care professionals, marrow donors, volunteers, researchers, and financial contributors who save lives by facilitating marrow/blood stem cell transplants and other cellular therapies for patients with blood cancers and life-threatening blood disorders.
For thousands of these patients each year, finding an unrelated donor through the Be The Match Registry® is the best hope for a second chance at life. In 2021, Be The Match® impacted 6,649 lives through cellular therapy. This includes transplants facilitated and cell and gene therapies.
In 2021/2022, the Eurofins Foundation provided financial support to the project ACCESS (Donor For All): A Multi-Centre, Phase II Trial of HLA-Partially Matched Unrelated Donor Transplant for Blood Cancer Patients.
Based on encouraging preliminary research, this clinical trial will expand the testing of a promising approach. Be The Match® believes this new transplant protocol will make partially matched unrelated donor transplants almost as safe and effective as fully matched transplants.
The objective is to enrol up to 140 adults and 40 pediatric patients who lack a fully matched (8/8), related or unrelated donor, but for whom a lesser matched and available donor (e.g., matched at 7/8, 6/8 alleles, etc.) can be found on the Registry. Be The Match® will work with approximately 40 centres across the United States to enrol and treat patients with this new transplant protocol.
The Eurofins Foundation support has been instrumental in helping Be The Match® enroll more patients in the Donor For All study. As of September 2022, adult enrollment is 150% above the projected rate, including 49% of enrolled patients being from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Be The Match® has 29 clinical sites open to enrollment, with 13 additional sites working toward operation.
In 2022/2023, the Eurofins Foundation renews its support to the Donor For All Study.
This project contributes to the following United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals
