Your commitment to childhood cancer research

Dear foundations, organisations and sponsors

The most important aim of SPOG is to cure children and adolescents with cancer. We hope to achieve this by offering patients the best possible treatment for their condition. At the same time SPOG coordinates and is responsible for a comprehensive research programme designed to improve the chances of a cure and quality of life for children and adolescents with cancer.

We are dependent on your support if we are to achieve our aim. We would therefore like to take this opportunity to describe the various options for supporting the research into childhood cancer conducted by SPOG.

Support for the research programme

If you decide to support our research programme, your donations will benefit all the research into childhood cancer conducted by SPOG. You will enable us to maintain a comprehensive programme of clinical research into many different types of cancer that affect children and adolescents. This type of support allows us to use the funding we receive for all studies and research projects conducted by SPOG.

The greatest costs for a clinical study are usually incurred between the time it is included in our research programme and the time it is opened for patient recruitment. During this period SPOG conducts extensive contract negotiations with the study’s international sponsors and prepares all the documents required by law so that the study can be submitted for approval by the Swiss authorities. It is very difficult to plan this process in advance. Support designated for our entire research programme enables us to use your donations exactly where they are needed at any given time.

Your advantages from supporting the entire research programme:

• You are making a contribution to all the research into childhood cancer conducted by SPOG
• You are helping to safeguard SPOG’s research activities in the longer term
• You are supporting all the studies and research projects conducted by SPOG and, as a result, all the patients we recruit into our studies
• You are enabling us to use our financial resources flexibly, efficiently and effectively
• You will receive comprehensive reports on all the research activities conducted by SPOG

Customised support

By supporting a specific study you will be making a direct contribution to the funding of a clinical study or a research project. You will enable research into new therapeutic approaches and medications with the potential to decisively improve the treatment and long-term quality of life of children and adolescents with cancer.

Your advantages from supporting a specific study:

• You will be supporting a specific clinical study
• You will be able to follow the progress of the study you are supporting
• You will be informed about the findings and success of the study you are supporting
• You will be providing support for a specific disease or group of children and adolescents
• We will provide you with more details of a specific study and therapy
• This option is suitable if your bylaws stipulate a specific aspect of the diseases in question, for example.

We additionally offer you the possibility of focusing your support on certain types of cancer, e.g. acute lymphatic leukaemia or germ cell tumours, or specific situations, e.g. recurrences or secondary cancers. If you would like to support our research activities not in terms of a specific study but a specific category of cancers (leukaemia, lymphoma, sarcoma, brain tumours, etc.), some of the costs of a study (approvals, insurance for patients, translations, etc.) or another specific area of our work, please let us know. We look forward to working with you to find the best solution and to designing your support to fulfil both your requirements and the needs of children and adolescents with cancer.

We are grateful for any form of support that you are able to provide. No matter what support you provide, you will be making a direct contribution to advancing clinical cancer research for the benefit of children and adolescents and in this way to improving the chances of a cure and the quality of life for a large number of young patients.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have questions or need more information. We are happy to help and greatly appreciate your interest in our work.

With your help we can conduct research to give a future to children and adolescents with cancer – don’t delay, support us today!