Stichting Overleven met Alvleesklierkanker
Stichting Overleven met Alvleesklierkanker (the Foundation) was established in autumn 2015 to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer and fund innovative research into new treatments. We have ANBI status and have been recognised by the CBF, the Dutch charity regulator, since May 2016. You can read more about our objectives and the way we work on our accountability page.
The Foundation is an independent foundation with one paid director and two part-time employees, a Supervisory Board, a Scientific Advisory Board for the award of funds and dozens of volunteers.
The Foundation funds research into immunotherapy and virotherapy: innovative approaches that aim to treat pancreatic cancer more effectively. One of these programmes is led by Professor Casper van Eijck, a surgeon and professor specialising in pancreatic cancer at Erasmus MC. After seeing too little progress for patients, he decided it was time to explore new avenues. He assembled a multidisciplinary team of virologists, molecular biologists, neurosurgeons and other specialists from Erasmus MC, Leiden University Medical Center, UMC Utrecht and Amsterdam UMC. Rather than focusing solely on the disease, their work harnesses the patient's own immune system to attack malignant tumours.
In November 2015, friends of a patient who had died launched the Support Casper campaign to help Casper and his team advance viro-immunotherapy. The campaign became part of the Foundation in 2016. Since then, a small and highly motivated team has worked under the Support Casper name towards one shared ambition: ending the devastating impact of pancreatic cancer.