Melanoma March has officially launched

5 February 2015

Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) has officially launched the 2015 ‘Melanoma March’ initiative in Melbourne.

The launch event held at Tonic House in Melbourne’s CBD revealed plans for the new funding. There will be 23 marches that are happening around Australia, with the first march kicking off in Melbourne on the 22nd February.

Professor Graham Mann, Research Director at MIA, explained how the Melanoma March campaign provides critical funding for our expert clinicians to get one step closer to finding a cure. He revealed the beneficiary of the 2015 initiative will be the next phase of the Melanoma Genome Project.

“Monies raised from last year’s Melanoma March campaign contributed to the world-first PD-1 Brain Metastases Trial - that is currently underway,” he said.

“Half of all patients diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma will develop brain metastases at some point during their illness. Until now, treatment has been unavailable and as such the clinicians at Melanoma Institute Australia are committed to developing new treatment options that provide potential hope to patients with brain metastases and could prove to be a significant step in finding a cure.

“Funds raised from the 2015 Melanoma March campaign will enable Melanoma Institute Australia and melanoma research centres around the nation to work together to launch a study which hopes to enable melanoma cells to be isolated, banked, distributed and tested against new treatments. This approach is a powerful way to capitalise on new knowledge from gene and immunity analysis that is showing where melanoma is vulnerable to attack.

Known as ‘Australia’s national cancer’, Australia has the highest incidence of melanoma in the world with over 12,500 new cases diagnosed each year, equating to one person dying every six hours from melanoma in Australia. Sadly, melanoma kills more young Australians (15-39 year-olds) than any other single cancer, proving why continual funding for research is key in addressing this devastating illness.

The Melbourne launch was also attended by former AFL icon and melanoma survivor, Tim McGrath as well as award winning musician Bob Corbett and channel Ten news presenter Brad McEwen.

To see where your local march is and how you can get involved to help us raise $1 million for melanoma research click here.