EMD Millipore Provides Grant to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation

• 4-year, $500,000 grant will support two breast cancer research projects led by stellar scientists
• The first project focuses on molecular screening
• EMD Millipore is committed to investing in innovative research to further understanding of breast cancer

October 1, 2012, Billerica, MA — EMD Millipore, the Life Science division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, today announced the company is providing The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) with a four-year, $500,000 grant to support leading scientists focused on promising areas of breast cancer research.   The fund will be in the form of two grants of $250,000 each over a two-year period, and is the latest development in EMD Millipore’s two-year alliance with BCRF.

“EMD Millipore is proud of our successful collaboration with The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the opportunity to enhance our involvement to further important breast cancer research,” said Robert Yates, President, EMD Millipore. “We look forward to learning more about the findings from the research conducted by the grant recipients, which may have the potential to provide new treatment options for people living with breast cancer, or ultimately, a world free of breast cancer.”

“Organizations like EMD Millipore, through its commitment to advancing cancer research and its generosity, enable us to move closer to our goal of prevention and a cure for breast cancer,” said Margaret Mastrianni, BCRF Deputy Director. “We are delighted to be working with EMD Millipore again this year. Its philanthropy sets a stellar example for other companies.”

One of the grant recipients is Dr. Martine Piccart-Gebhart who is a Professor of Oncology at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles and Director of Medicine at the Jules Bordet Institute, in Brussels, Belgium. Dr. Piccart is co-founder and chair of the Breast International Group (BIG), uniting 50 academic research groups from around the world and running over 30 trials under its umbrella.  BIG’s research programs include NeoBIG, an innovative biomarker and drug development program focused on neo-adjuvant trials. Dr. Piccart’s current BCRF-funded research, made possible by support from EMD Millipore, will focus on molecular screening of individual tumors, which will ultimately make it possible to tailor treatment decisions for each individual living with breast cancer.  In the coming year, the molecular screening study called INTEGRATE, which to date has focused on neoadjuvant treatment (for primary breast cancers, prior to surgery) will be expanded to include metastatic patients.

In 2010, EMD Millipore provided a $25,000 grant to fund the BCRF’s research efforts.  In addition, the company donated a portion of proceeds from the sale of Guava® Flow Cytometry EasyCyte™ systems to BCRF.  Flow cytometry is a technique used by scientists to measure physical and/or chemical changes within individual cells. These changes may occur as a consequence of many important factors, including cancer development.

EMD Millipore
EMD Millipore is the Life Science division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, offers a broad range of innovative, performance products, services and business relationships that enable our customers' success in research, development and production of biotech and pharmaceutical drug therapies. Through dedicated collaboration on new scientific and engineering insights, and as one of the top three R&D investors in the Life Science Tools industry, EMD Millipore serves as a strategic partner to customers and helps advance the promise of life science.

Headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, the division has around 10,000 employees, operations in 67 countries and 2011 revenues of EUR 2.4 billion. 

About BCRF
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation®, founded by Evelyn H. Lauder in 1993, is an independent not-for-profit organization committed to funding scientific research to achieve prevention and a cure for breast cancer in our lifetime. In October 2012, BCRF will award $40 million to 197 scientists across the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and China. With 91 cents of every dollar spent by BCRF directed towards breast cancer research and awareness programs, BCRF remains one of the most fiscally responsible charities in the country. For the tenth time since 2002, it has earned 4 stars from Charity Navigator. Additionally, BCRF is the only cancer organization rated an “A+” by CharityWatch. For more information about BCRF, visit www.bcrfcure.org.