February already?!

For us at MPN Research Foundation, our year begins at December 1st with our new fiscal year. Which means that, it being February, we are 1/4 of the way through 2012 already. Even without the jump start on 2012, there is enough going on to keep us busy. 

First, we have the continuation of our regularly scheduled grant programs. Soon we'll begin receiving progress reports from the first year of the 8 grants we funded in 2011, right in time for us to begin the 2nd year of funding in April. 

Second, in January we announced a new partnership with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This collaboration is focused on stopping or reversing fibrosis. We announced the request for proposals for these concept grants last month and are pleased at the excitement that's been demonstrated already. 

Finally, we've also been able to announce that Cigna now covers Pegasys. This was the result of MPN Research Foundation advocacy on behalf of patients who have been unable to have the medication covered for MPNs, which is considered off-label use.  

This is just a sampling of what we've got going on and we look forward to sharing more in our Spring newsletter, which should hit mailboxes and inboxes sometime around April.