THERAPY ACCELERATION PROGRAM® (TAP)
Strategic Venture Philanthropy Initiative Since 2007
Watch Dr. Lore Gruenbaum, Vice President of LLS TAP, discuss program goals at the 2024 EHA Annual Meeting
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What is TAP?
TAP is LLS’ Mission-driven, strategic venture philanthropy initiative that seeks to accelerate the development of innovative blood cancer therapeutics and change the standard of care, while also generating a return on investment for the LLS Mission.
TAP collaborates with biotech companies to support the development of novel platforms, first-in-class assets addressing unmet medical needs, emerging patient populations and even rare blood cancers.
Since its establishment, TAP has invested more than $100 million in over 50 biotech projects.
"Funding from leaders like LLS TAP helps fuel the progress of our clinical development program, bringing next-generation treatments that much closer to patients. We're particularly excited to be working with LLS TAP because it gives us access to their deep knowledge of blood cancer and their network of patients and drug development experts."
- Rachel Haurwitz, Ph.D., Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Caribou Biosciences
Since 2017, four TAP-supported therapies have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or included in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines:
CPX-351 (Vyxeos®), first approved treatment (an innovative reformulation of two chemotherapies) for patients with certain types of high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML) - approved on August 3 2017 with clinical data published in Journal of Clinical Oncology
Axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta®), first CAR T-cell immunotherapy approved for patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and transformed follicular lymphoma (tFL) - approved on October 18 2017 with clinical data published in Lancet Oncology
Tagraxofusp-erzs (Elzonris®), first approved therapy for children and adults with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) - approved on December 21 2018 with clinical data published in New England Journal of Medicine
Duvelisib (Copiktra®), first dual inhibitor of PI3K-delta and gamma pathways to be included in NCCN Guidelines as a designated option for patients with all subtypes of peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) - included on December 22 2021 with clinical data presented during the 2021 ASH Meeting
Currently, there are over 30 active clinical studies with TAP-supported therapies, including several registration-enabling clinical studies in blood cancer.
“Through our partnership with LLS, we have access to their deep knowledge and expertise in hematologic oncology, and to their extensive physician and patient network. By working together, we can accelerate development of our lead product IO-202, a myeloid checkpoint inhibitor, for AML and CMML and help patients who need new treatment options.”
- Charlene Liao, PhD, Co-Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Immune-Onc Therapeutics
View archived TAP webcasts and programs
- Pushing Boundaries & Transforming Lives for Patients with Rare Blood Cancers (January 2024)
- European Partners Dream Big, Make Bold Progress (January 2023)
- Expanding the Possible with Next-Generation Cell Therapies (January 2022)
- Value Creation for Companies: Dollars & Beyond (December 2020)
- LLS Research Now: LLS’s Venture Philanthropy Model for Accelerating Promising Therapies (October 2020)
- LLS Business Networking Reception ASH 2019 (December 2019)
How did TAP impact Elzonris development?
Listen to Dr. Arthur Frankel and Peter MacDonald, SVP of Corporate & Business Development of Stemline Therapeutics discuss the role TAP played in the development of Elzonris for patients with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) and the value TAP created for Stemline beyond the funding.