The Foundation

PHASE ONE is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Phase I clinical research and treatment programs for patients with cancer. It was founded in 1999 by Stacy and Alberto Valner with a group of friends, all couples with young children who either themselves or a close family member had been diagnosed with cancer.

Once a new idea or novel drug is identified in the laboratory, the FDA requires three levels of clinical testing prior to the approval of that drug for widespread use. These studies are usually referred to as trials in Phase I, II, or III. The focus of a Phase I trial is to determine the appropriate dose and schedule of a given drug and its side effects. Patients enrolled usually have advanced cancers, which have progressed through standard therapy or for which standard therapy does not exist. Sometimes these patients have been through "everything" and still function extremely well. The Phase II trial applies the Phase I information on dose and schedule and tries to get a hint of efficacy. The Phase III trial is the final set of studies which usually involves hundreds, if not thousands, of patients worldwide. Clinical trials are the only way to understand what are the best and safest therapies available to patients with any disease.

With your support PHASE ONE hopes that its efforts to fund Phase I trials and research will help in the fight against cancer, by finding treatments that will transform what might be a terminal illness into one where patients can live a full and productive life.

Raising more than $9 million in the past decade, PHASE ONE is proud to have funded research at some of the most prestigious organizations in Southern California including Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, City of Hope, UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the Premiere Oncology Foundation Lung Cancer Initiative.