Dennis & Mireille Gillings Foundation teams with WBA to support EORTC research fund

BRUSSELS, Belgium — The Dennis & Mireille Gillings Foundation has pledged 1 million euros to the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Research Fund to help fight cancer, particularly breast cancer. Part of the donation will support the SPECTAcolor Biobank, a tumor tissue sample Biobank and biomarker analysis platform for genetic profiling of patients suffering from advanced cancer.

 

In supporting this Biobank, the Dennis & Mireille Gillings Foundation will join forces with Walgreens Boots Alliance, which has a long-term partnership with the EORTC Cancer Research Fund.

 

“We warmly thank the Dennis & Mireille Gillings Foundation for its kind donation, which will greatly help support the Biobank in its efforts to prolong and save lives of colorectal cancer patients," said Ornella Barra, EVP Walgreens Boots Alliance and chief executive of global wholesale and international retail. "Corporate Social Responsibility is at the heart of what we do at Walgreens Boots Alliance and we are committed to making a positive and lasting difference to the wellbeing of the communities we serve.”

 

“We are making powerful inroads in the fight against breast, colon and other cancers,” Mireille Gillings, trustee of the Dennis & Mireille Gillings Foundation, said. “This donation will continue to build momentum as we strive to develop cancer cures within a generation.”

 

The aims of the EORTC are to develop, conduct, coordinate, and stimulate translational and clinical research in Europe to improve the management of cancer and related problems by increasing survival but also patient quality of life. Among its initiatives is a breast cancer group whose goal is to carry out high quality international clinical trials.