The Aspen Institute

Michael Kauffman writes:  “My wife Sharon Shacham and I continue to run Karyopharm Therapeutics.  She came up with a really cool new way to attack cancers which restores the cell’s own internal cancer detecting proteins called tumor suppressor proteins.  Normally, when these proteins detect cancerous changes in a cell, they direct the cell to commit suicide.  When people develop cancer, this means the cancer cells have turned off these tumor suppressor proteins.  Sharon found a way to turn these proteins back on, and we have a drug now in people with various cancers, looking very interesting so far.  We also have a similar drug we are using to treat dogs with lymphomas, and are hoping to have the dog treatment on the market in a couple of years.  I’m out raising more money to help us move our drugs along in clinical testing, and we hope to start some really big trials at the end of this year — if these work, we would go to the FDA to approve the new drugs.  Our kids, Amir 14, and Dor 10, are doing very well.  Amir is in his last year of middle school, and Dor in his last year of Elementary, so it will be a busy time this September.  All the best to the Fellows!”