Former Citigroup The CEO Sandy Weill announced on Thursday morning a gift of $ 50 million through the Weill Family Foundation to establish the Weill Cancer Hub East, an association aimed at using research on nutrition and metabolism to develop cancer treatments.
The Association brings together four leading research institutions, with experts from Princeton University, Rockefeller University, Weill Cornell Medicine and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, to develop an immunotherapy strategy to combat cancer.
“Good things happen when people believe in cooperation,” Weill said in an exclusive interview in the “Squawk Box” of CNBC on Thursday morning.
Weill's last donation marks the foundation given by a total of more than $ 1 billion to non -profit organizations.
“With the best minds in the field armed with the most advanced research techniques, Weill Cancer Hub East will seek to raise immunotherapy and improve patient care for people fighting cancer,” Weill said in a statement.
The new association will focus on investigating how nutrition and microbes that metabolize food can influence immunotherapy and other cancer treatments. The Weill family foundation said the center will also examine how GLP-1 agonists and other emerging therapies could affect cancer treatment.
Immunotherapy, unlike other therapies that are aimed at eliminating or attacking cancer cells directly, uses the patient's immune system to combat the disease from the inside. The hub projects will focus on “reprogramming” of the tumor microambiente, said the foundation in a statement, and will also offer clinical trials.
“The way we can increase the effectiveness of immunotherapy in all types of cancer and patients is one of the scientific questions that most need to answer,” said Dr. Robert Harrington, dean of Weill Cornell Medicine.
The new center's research is intended to complement the research and development of the National Health Institutes, said Weill, and cannot replace the NIH work. However, Weill added that he believes that NIH's work can be somewhat limited.
“I think they are not the great risk engines that used to be,” he said in “Squawk Box.” “I think it is the work of the private sector to be more than the risk maker.”
The Weill Family Foundation previously founded another center in 2019, called Weill Neurohub, which brought together researchers at the University of California, San Francisco; the University of California, Berkeley; The University of Washington; and the Allen Institute to work on the development of treatments for neurological and psychiatric diseases.
