An Inspired Gift Fuels Life-Saving Research and Leading-Edge Clinical Care

An Inspired Gift Fuels Life-Saving Research and Leading-Edge Clinical Care at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

A Historic Gift in Myeloma In July 2018, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus had reason to celebrate. Inspired by the leading-edge initiatives taking place on campus in multiple myeloma and other blood disorders, Denver couple David and Colleen Kessenich established the David and Colleen Kessenich Multiple Myeloma Research Fund with a $2 million gift, which was matched by the CU Cancer Center and the CU School of Medicine to bring the fund to $4 million.

David Kessenich is co-founder and managing partner of Denver private equity investment firm Excellere Partners, and he and Colleen are regular visitors to the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. Mr. and Mrs. Kessenich created this fund to speed vital translational research initiatives and to recognize the deep commitment among CU Anschutz faculty to offering the latest and best care to patients living with these diseases. “My wife and I felt that establishing an endowed fund would not only be a fitting way to recognize the tremendous talent at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, but also serve as a reliable source of support in perpetuity to foster innovation in myeloma treatment and care,� said Mr. Kessenich.

Motivated by Top Talent In early 2018, David attended a laboratory tour with the myeloma team in the CU Division of Hematology, and the collaborative, innovative work he learned about there motivated the couple to think about how they might contribute to its progress. With the gift that followed, the Kessenichs are supporting top talent including Tomer Mark, MD, MSc; Daniel Sherbenou, MD, PhD; Peter Forsberg, MD; Craig Jordan, PhD and Clay Smith, MD, and this group of leaders has made great strides in both their research and clinical missions in the year since.

The funding has advanced the myeloma team’s strategic priorities including faculty recruitment, big data, drug development and clinical trial activity. The group has hired research staff, data and IT staff, and program administrators to support rapid expansion of clinical trials and new drug testing, and to further enhance the patient experience.

“With increased staffing, we are now able to ensure that every myeloma patient gets a personal visit each time they step into the blood disorders clinic,” said Dr. Mark. “Patients in our clinic feel like they are getting unmatched attention and care from our team.”

Dr. Sherbenou has also seen the benefits of building the team. “In the laboratory, recruiting new scientists to our group and expanding into new cutting-edge techniques has greatly accelerated the discovery process and increased our overall bandwidth to expand our research programs.”

Fueling Innovation, Improving Care An innovative program called MyDST is enabling the team to further personalize cancer treatment by testing bone marrow biopsies to determine the sensitivity of a patient’s particular myeloma cells to a battery of different anti-cancer drugs. They are also harnessing the power of big data to build a clinical myeloma database that will integrate with patient medical records and allow for more sophisticated approaches to individualized treatments. They have successfully taken a new drug called CD46-ADC into clinical testing and have a second drug called omacetaxine in preparation for clinical testing, further expanding the universe of potential treatments available to patients with myeloma. In another project, the team has pioneered allogeneic stem cell transplants in several patients with end-stage myeloma, and both are now thriving.

Dr. Sherbenou credits the infusion of resources from Mr. and Mrs. Kessenich with helping to usher in these and other successes in patient care. “This gift has enabled our team to rapidly improve myeloma outcomes by stimulating both laboratory and clinical research,” he said.

As the team has grown its people and programs, they have seen a 40% increase in new myeloma patient visits and expansion of their referral base to include Nebraska, South Dakota, Montana, New Mexico and Alaska. They have fostered better collaboration with industry as well, allowing the team to bring important clinical trials and more personalized therapeutic approaches to patients in the Rocky Mountain region.

Ultimately, these and other success mean better care for more patients. “We are very hopeful that our efforts to develop new drugs for myeloma will give patients with resistance to the currently available treatments new options when they are most in need,” said Dr. Sherbenou.

“Our progress means we are able to offer more personalized choices and compassionate care,” said Dr. Mark. “We are better able to understand individual outcomes and to intervene earlier. We now have access to state-of-the-art treatments that allow our patients to stay in their homes rather than travel elsewhere for the latest and greatest.”

Looking Ahead On the heels of these successes, the team is looking forward to what is next in myeloma research and care. There are many promising developments on the horizon. They are pursuing FDA guidance and eventual commercialization of the MyDST platform, as well as opening new cellular therapy and drug trials for patients and moving forward with their data integration efforts. They are launching new experiments aimed at increasing understanding of why certain myeloma cells resist treatment and prevent physicians from curing the disease with today’s available therapies.

They also have plans to expand the reach of their expertise and research findings, and help build the pipeline of talent in the field. “We eventually would like to host a regional myeloma meeting coordinating the research and educational efforts across Colorado,” said Dr. Mark. “We’d also like to create a myeloma fellowship, allowing junior oncologists the opportunity to specialize in plasma cell disorders.”

Gratitude The myeloma team at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus is grateful for the generosity and vision that sparked such a transformational investment in their work. “We absolutely could not have accomplished as much as we have during the past year without the financial support and advice given by Mr. and Mrs. Kessenich,” said Dr. Mark. “This funding has catapulted the growth of our myeloma program by three or four years.”

“It’s a pleasure to help the myeloma team accelerate their progress as leaders in the field,” said Mr. Kessenich. “It is our hope that their work will make a positive impact in the lives of countless patients and families seeking the world-class medical care available at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.”