Cancer Research Institute recognizes David Brennan as 2007 Grace Award winner for Distinguished Service in Advancing Cancer Research

The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) will host its 21st Annual Awards Dinner at The Rainbow Room in New York City’s Rockefeller Center. More than 300 guests are expected to attend the event, which will net more than $1 million for the Institute’s research programs.

Hosted by CNN Anchor and Special Correspondent Soledad O’Brien, the black-tie dinner will honor philanthropic and corporate leaders and scientists who have made significant contributions to the fight against cancer, including:

• David R. Brennan, chairman and CEO of AstraZeneca PLC will receive the Oliver R. Grace Award for Distinguished Service in Advancing Cancer Research in recognition of his company’s passionate commitment to cancer research and to developing new cancer medicines that are designed to improve the health and quality of life for patients.
• Wade F.B. Thompson, chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Thor Industries, Inc., who will receive the Oliver R. Grace Award for Distinguished Service in Advancing Cancer Research. Mr. Thompson is a celebrated business leader and active philanthropist who has been a long-time supporter of the Cancer Research Institute’s efforts to develop immune-based therapies for prostate, melanoma, and colon cancers. He has also displayed an exemplary commitment to public education and awareness of cancer through the National Prostate Cancer Coalition’s Drive Against Prostate Cancer—a program featuring two mobile medical vehicles donated by Thor Industries that have provided free prostate cancer screenings to more than 60,000 men around the country.
• Jeffrey V. Ravetch, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Molecular Genetics and Immunology at The Rockefeller University will receive the William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology for his significant contributions to our understanding of the genetic components that govern the coupling of antibody specificity to effector cell response and the critical role of certain cellular receptors involved in the activation of the adaptive immune response and how this understanding has opened the way to new treatments for cancer and autoimmune disease.

The dinner will also feature a keynote address by Lee M. Nadler, M.D., senior vice president of Experimental Medicine and director of the Center for Clinical & Translational Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, and a personal story from melanoma survivor Sharon Coords, who received a cancer vaccine in an early phase clinical trial funded by the Cancer Research Institute.

Cancer Research Institute Co-Chairmen of the Board Donald J. Gogel, president & CEO of Clayton Dubilier & Rice, a leading private equity and investment firm, and Andrew M. Paul, chairman of Enhanced Capital Partners, a specialized venture capital fund, will speak on behalf of the Institute and its efforts to conquer cancer through the advancement of immunology.

About the Oliver R. Grace Award for Distinguished Service in Advancing Cancer Research

This award recognizes the contributions of dedicated laypersons whose leadership has had a significant impact on cancer research. The award is named in memory of Oliver R. Grace, the founding chairman of the Cancer Research Institute, who died in 1992. Each Grace Award winner will receive a gold medallion.

About the William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology

This award was established in 1975 in honor of Dr. William B. Coley, a pioneer of cancer immunotherapy, whose daughter Helen Coley Nauts (1907-2001) founded the Cancer Research Institute. Award winners are nominated by CRI’s Scientific Advisory Council, the Academy of Cancer Immunology, and former Coley Award winners. Each winner will receive a cash prize of $5,000 and a gold medallion.

About the Cancer Research Institute

The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) is the world’s only non-profit, private organization dedicated exclusively to the support and coordination of scientific and clinical efforts that will lead to the immunological treatment, control, and prevention of cancer. Guided by a world-renowned Scientific Advisory Council that includes five Nobel Prize winners and twenty-eight members of the National Academy of Sciences, CRI supports the finest cutting-edge cancer research at top medical centers and universities throughout the world. As the initiator and steward of unprecedented global laboratory and clinical programs like the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative, a partnership with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, and the Coordinated Cancer Initiatives, the Cancer Research Institute is ushering in a new era of scientific progress, hastening the discovery of effective cancer vaccines and other immune-based therapies that are providing new hope to cancer patients.

The Cancer Research Institute has one of the lowest overhead expense ratios among non-profit organizations, with the majority of its resources going directly to the support of its science, medical, and research programs. This has consistently earned CRI an A grade or higher for fiscal disclosure and efficiency from the American Institute of Philanthropy and top marks from other charity watchdog organizations. www.cancerresearch.org

About AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services. It is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of $26.47 billion and leading positions in sales of gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory, oncology and infection products. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global) as well as the FTSE4Good Index.

In the United States, AstraZeneca is a $12.44 billion healthcare business with more than 12,000 employees. For nearly three decades, AstraZeneca has offered drug assistance programs side by side with its medicines, and over the past five years, has provided over $3 billion in savings to more than 1 million patients throughout the US and Puerto Rico. AstraZeneca has been named one of the “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers” by Working Mother magazine and is the only large pharmaceutical company named to FORTUNE magazine’s 2007 list of “100 Best Companies to Work For.” In 2006, for the fifth consecutive year, Science magazine named AstraZeneca a “Top Employer” on its ranking of the world’s most respected biopharmaceutical employers.

For more information about AstraZeneca, please visit: www.astrazeneca-us.com

Media Contacts:

Brian M. Brewer, Cancer Research Institute: 212-688-7515 x 242
Kirsten Evraire, AstraZeneca: 302-885-0435