Swim Across America Helps Fund Breakthrough Cancer Study

Swim Across America, a nonprofit that raises money for cancer research through charity swims, helped fund a recent study in which all 12 rectal cancer patients showed a 100% complete response to a new immunotherapy treatment. 

In a paper published Sunday in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Luis Diaz Jr. of Memorial Sloan Kettering Center wrote that the cancer vanished in every phase two clinical trial patient who was treated with the experimental drug dostarlimab. It’s a small sample size, but the results – sponsored by the drug company GlaxoSmithKline – are historic. 

“I believe this (a 100% response) is the first time this has happened in the history of cancer,” Dr. Diaz said.

“There were a lot of happy tears,” said Dr. Andrea Cercek, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a co-author of the paper.

Swim Across America was an early-stage sponsor of the clinical trial. The organization’s grant helped fund the science and speed of sharing information. Other funding partners of the study include the Simon and Eve Colin Foundation, GlaxoSmithKline, Stand Up to Cancer, and the National Cancer Institute. “Delighted with the results,” Swim Across America continues to provide grant support for the project. 

Swim Across America’s agreement with beneficiaries such as Memorial Sloan Kettering requires that the entire grant must be spent on approved research and clinical trial programs. In 35 years, the group has given nearly $100 million to projects like Dr. Diaz and Dr. Cercek’s study. Swim Across America has a history of picking promising ideas that have developed into FDA-approved immunotherapy cancer treatments such as Yervoy, Opdivo, Tecentriq, and Keytruda.

More than 100,000 supporters and volunteers and 100 Olympians participate in Swim Across America programs each year.