Notizie.it editorial team Rome, 14 September (askanews) – The press conference for the presentation of Lilly's “Saving Time” campaign was held in Rome at the Donna Camilla Savelli hotel, with the patronage of the GIMEMA Foundation – Franco Mandelli Onlus, AIL – Italian Association against leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma and Aladino's Lamp ETS. The initiative, launched in the month dedicated to raising awareness of blood cancers, which currently represent approximately 10% of all cancers and, with 30 thousand new diagnoses each year, are the fifth most common among all neoplasms.
"Blood cancers are a broad category of neoplasms with different prognoses and frequencies and, where curative solutions have not yet been found, they tend to recur. It is in these areas that research and the provision of innovative drugs can make a difference. Innovation has in fact made increasingly effective therapeutic solutions available, capable of reducing side effects and keeping the disease under control, guaranteeing the patient a better quality of life - comments Maurizio Martelli Full Professor of Hematology at the Department of Translational and Precision Medicine at Sapienza University of Rome - Although there are still therapeutic needs to be filled, for which we confidently await the arrival of new therapies, today a diagnosis of a blood cancer is no longer a condemnation, a goal that until recently was unthinkable."
As part of the “Saving Time” campaign, created to commemorate the progress made in scientific research in providing new hope to patients and giving voice to the unmet needs for care, three dawn concerts open to the public will be promoted in three Italian cities: in Rome on September 3 in collaboration with the Conservatorio S. Cecilia, in Naples on September 14 with the participation of the Conservatorio di Musica di San Pietro a Majella and in Milan on September 21 with the musicians of the Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatorio di Musica “Giuseppe Verdi”.
Giuseppe Toro, President of AIL, explained how research and innovation can also contribute to the psychological and social aspects of patients: “It is important that treatments also respect the quality of life of patients, it is a very important task for our institutions. In particular, in these pathologies in which hospitalization can last months or years, it is essential to set up adequate services that allow everyone to access therapies. The fundamental objective is to put the patient and the person back at the center of the system. Everything must converge to guarantee a high quality of life that allows people with blood neoplasia to best face therapies”.
Paolo Ghia, Professor of Medical Oncology at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, said: “Thanks to new biological and oral therapies, which are gradually replacing chemotherapy, the life expectancy of people with blood cancer is longer than in the past. In addition to this, the quality of life of patients is improving. Research results are making everything easier, reducing chemotherapy treatments, there are fewer visits to hospitals, fewer hospitalizations and also the commitment required by family members and caregivers is less burdensome”.
The #SavingTime initiative, therefore, will bring classical music outside its usual confines, into open-air venues, making it a metaphor for scientific research: just as classical music, traditionally confined to theaters and concert halls, is brought outside announcing the birth of a new day in Italian squares, scientific research, the result of the harmonious collaboration between several professionals, acquires value when it leaves the laboratories and enters people's daily lives.
