Napster creator Sean Parker gives $250 million to cancer research through Parker Foundation

Sean Parker (Twitter photo)

The Parker Foundation -- led by Napster creator and founding Facebook President Sean Parker -- is doling out a $250 million grant to launch the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. A collaboration between scientists, clinicians and industry partners, the institute will spearhead efforts in cancer immunotherapy research -- benefitting from what amounts to the largest single contribution ever made to the field.

The institute hopes to accelerate the development of immune therapies, effectively rendering cancer a curable disease, and translate the findings of the field's top researchers into full-bore patient treatments.

The announcement comes three months after the Obama Administration established a new National Cancer Moonshot Initiative to accelerate cancer research. Led by Vice President Joe Biden, the Moonshot Initiative calls for a $1 billion federal cancer research program to make therapies available to more patients, and improve the ability to prevent cancer and detect it early.

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The Parker Institute includes over 40 laboratories and more than 300 researchers from a nationwide array of cancer centers, including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Each research center receives comprehensive funding, clinical resources and technologies.

In an agreement, the centers have determined that the administration of intellectual property will be shared, which means all researchers will have immediate access to a broad swath of discoveries.

Parker, the foundation's president, said in a statement that "now is the time" to invest in immunotherapy, adding that a new research model "can overcome many of the obstacles that currently prevent research breakthroughs."

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He said the institute is poised to share discoveries and more rapidly deliver treatments to patients.

Scientific advisors and site leaders for the institute have crafted what they call a scientific roadmap, allowing them to make big bets on major collaborative research projects, as well as fund individual projects at the organization's various sites.

Three key research areas have been earmarked as a starting point. One is cell-based therapy, in which T-cells are harvested from a patient's blood and modified to target a tumor. The research team will attempt to modify T-cells to enhance their function and develop better therapies.

Researchers will also try to improve the rates of durable responses to cut down on relapses or unresponsiveness to therapies and advance DNA sequencing in an attempt to more effectively target tumors.

Twitter: @JELagasse