Cleveland Browns Owners Donate $12.5 Million to Advance Blood Cancer Research

Rare Daily Staff

Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre, the international drug discovery and development organization, said Cleveland Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam have pledged $10 million to accelerate research and drug development for chronic lymphocytic leukemia and other rare blood cancers.

The gift will support efforts to develop new therapies for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL, the most common form of adult leukemia, which remains incurable despite advances that have made it more manageable.

An additional $2.5 million commitment will fund an endowed chair in CLL research and an innovation fund at University Hospitals’ Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland.

The Haslams, owners of the Cleveland Browns and managing partners of Haslam Sports Group, said their donation was inspired by the collaboration between University Hospitals’ Harrington Discovery Institute and the University of Oxford, which focuses on translating scientific discoveries into new medicines for rare diseases.

“I am extremely grateful that I am living a full, healthy life after being diagnosed with CLL in 2021,” Dee Haslam said. “This gift to University Hospitals is an investment into research and drug development.”

Researchers at the Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre and UH Seidman Cancer Center seek to advance new treatments into clinical trials, with the long-term goal of finding a cure for CLL and related blood cancers.

Jonathan Stamler, president and co-founder of the Harrington Discovery Institute, said the funding will help accelerate the development of new therapies. “Their generosity creates a remarkable opportunity to advance a next generation of medicines for blood cancers,” Stamler said.

The Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre supports scientists across the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada in developing treatments for rare conditions, where fewer than 5 percent of diseases currently have approved therapies.

Since its founding in 2012, the Harrington Discovery Institute has supported more than 200 drug development programs and helped advance multiple therapies into clinical trials.