Dr. Bart Barlogie, M.D., Ph.D |Founder & Director, Myeloma Institute at UAMS
Celgene Corp. of Summit, New Jersey, announced Monday that it is giving $10 million to the Myeloma Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Celgene and UAMS announced the grant at a news conference attended by Gov. Asa Hutchinson at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute on the UAMS campus in Little Rock. UAMS will use the grant to create the Bart Barlogie Center for Molecular Diagnostics and the Celgene Distinguished Endowed Chair in Molecular Therapeutics.
“Celgene’s contribution to the UAMS Myeloma Institute reflects our continuing commitment to advance transformational science, deliver life-enhancing medicines and serve patients with multiple myeloma the world over,” Bob Hugin, chairman and CEO of Celgene Corp., said. “The Myeloma Institute has established itself as a leader in developing precision medicine strategies, and we’re happy to support it in continuing that standard of innovation and excellence.”
Dr. Bart Barlogie led the UAMS Myeloma Institute from its founding in 1989 until last year, when he stepped down to focus on clinical care and research. Dr. Gareth Morgan, formerly of the Royal Marsden Institute NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Cancer Research in London, became director of the institute last year.
According to UAMS, the myeloma program has seen more than 11,000 patients from every state in the United States and more than 50 foreign countries. It has performed more than 9,000 peripheral blood stem cell transplants.
“Barlogie and his colleagues fundamentally changed the course of the disease and its effects through new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic interventions,” Hugin said. “Celgene has been happy to work with him for many years, and we wanted to acknowledge his achievement in a lasting and meaningful way with this center.”
Morgan said the Barlogie Center and the Celgene Distinguished Endowed Chair mark an exciting collaboration. UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn said the Celgene Endowed Chair “will ensure continued recruitment and support retention of the highest caliber faculty members, who will bring new ideas and create new programs related to molecular therapeutics, an essential component of precision medicine.”
Publicly traded Celgene Corp. is a global biopharmaceutical company focusing on therapies for treating cancer and inflammatory diseases through gene and protein regulation. It reported about $6.4 billion in revenue in 2013.
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