Bob Wright established The Suzanne Wright Foundation in November 2016, in honor of his wife Suzanne, to drive urgency and action in the fight against pancreatic cancer.
The Suzanne Wright Foundation advocates for HARPA, the Health Advanced Research Projects Agency, to drive innovation in biomedical research.
Despite medical innovation over the last century, millions of Americans with deadly and debilitating conditions have seen no progress….
There are more than 9,000 known diseases, yet there are approved treatments for only 500.
Two out of five Americans have a disease with no cure.
HARPA would leverage federal research assets and private sector tools to develop capabilities for diseases, like pancreatic cancer, that have not benefited from the current system.
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Bob Wright established the Suzanne Wright Foundation in honor of his wife Suzanne, who died from pancreatic cancer in 2016. 91% of patients die from this disease- most within the first year of diagnosis. CodePurple is a Suzanne Wright Foundation initiative to drive urgency and action in the fight against pancreatic cancer. The improvement in survival rates for breast, colon, prostate and other cancers demonstrates how the power of advocacy and focused funding can drive research and save lives. Pancreatic cancer is an emergency that requires an innovative, focused approach. Bob Wright and the Suzanne Wright Foundation have proposed the federal initiative HARPA, a Health Advanced Research Projects Agency, to build life-saving capabilities for diseases that have not benefited from the current system.
READ MORE ABOUT USMay 11, 2021
The Suzanne Wright Foundation proposed the establishment of HARPA in 2017 to address pancreatic cancer and other diseases that have not benefitted from the current system. We have been relentless in our efforts ever since. In addition to our advocacy with the last administration, our team worked closely with the Biden campaign throughout 2020 to be sure that HARPA became a priority in a new administration.
We are proud to update you with the news that President Biden has announced his support for an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (HARPA). You can read about the President’s announcement in his joint address to Congress on April 28, 2021 HERE. The President has formally proposed $6.5 billion in the FY 2021-2022 budget for the agency and Congress is currently reviewing this proposal.
In order for HARPA to deliver on its potential, it is essential that it is structured like DARPA – operating as an independent agency with urgency, accountability and results. HARPA would leverage discovery-based research at the NIH, Department of Defense and other federal agencies, while catalyzing the private sector to drive meaningful innovation that will save millions of lives and billions of dollars.
Patient advocacy groups and industry leaders across the field have joined our efforts. During these critical months of budget negotiation, we remain focused on establishing HARPA as an agency that can hit the ground running and deliver results for the millions of patients and their families who have been waiting.
You can read a Fast Company article about our Foundation’s contribution to this effort HERE. As always, thank you for your continued support.
June 25, 2018
A segment from “The Patients Are Waiting: How HARPA Will Change Lives Now”
February 12, 2021
The Biden administration is contemplating creating a research agency to help fund breakthroughs that aren’t economically viable for big health and pharmaceutical companies. Meet HARPA.
The Suzanne Wright Foundation is dedicated to driving urgency and action in the fight against pancreatic cancer—the most deadly of all major cancers. 91% of patients die. This is an emergency. This is #CodePurple.
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