Promising blood cancer therapies are on the fast track to success.
More than $115 million invested in over 50 projects since 2007 is fueling more breakthroughs.
What is TAP?
The Therapy Acceleration Program® is Blood Cancer United’s mission-driven, strategic venture philanthropy initiative that seeks to accelerate the development of innovative blood cancer therapeutics and change the standard of care, while also generating a return on investment for our mission.
TAP collaborates with biotech companies to support the development of novel platforms, first-in-class therapeutics addressing high unmet medical needs, emerging patient populations, and orphan indications.
Since 2017, five TAP-supported therapies have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or added to guidelines that drive treatment and insurance coverage decisions.
Currently, there are more than thirty active clinical studies of TAP-supported therapies—including several that, if successful, will lead to additional new FDA approvals.
By partnering with biotech companies, TAP not only advances innovative blood cancer therapies, but also generates much-needed financial returns to further support our mission.
To expand the reach and impact of TAP, we’ll continue:
- Leveraging our unique expertise in novel collaborations
- Attracting more companies and investors to blood cancer indications
- Expanding TAP capacity to support the most promising therapeutics
TAP has established a record of success by:
- Targeting unmet medical needs
- Securing FDA approval of life-changing therapeutics
- Creating value for patients and companies, as well as financial returns
Learn all about TAP
Get the latest information on how to become a TAP Partner, what the process entails, funding priorities and criteria, breakthrough treatments and therapies, TAP success stories, and more.
Apply for TAP funding
Download and complete the TAP Inquiry Form (PDF) Send the completed application and your non-confidential presentation to us via email.
Support TAP
Investment-savvy donors provide opportunity funding to enable TAP to make equity investments in biotech companies with novel therapeutic projects—with the potential for a significant return. This return comes in many forms: in advances in the field, improved therapies, new standards of care and innovative technologies that transform the entire landscape of medical science and cancer therapeutics. Returns are also seen in the ability of TAP biotech partners to raise additional funds to advance new therapies towards approvals, and in the financial returns that come back to TAP to re-invest.
For more information on how to support TAP, contact Sheena Mehta, Director of Philanthropy, TAP, via email.
Listen to a network of experts share their insights and experience on TAP
View archived TAP webcasts and programs
- United in Action to Accelerate Cures for Patients with AML (January 2025)
- Pushing Boundaries & Transforming Lives for Patients with Rare Blood Cancers (January 2024)
- European Partners Dream Big, Make Bold Progress (January 2023)
- Expanding the Possible with Next-Generation Cell Therapies (January 2022)
Check out these success stories
CPX-351 (Vyxeos®)
First approved treatment (an innovative reformulation of two chemotherapies) for patients with certain types of high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Approved August 3, 2017, with clinical data published in Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta®)
First CAR T-cell immunotherapy approved for patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and transformed follicular lymphoma (tFL). Approved October 18, 2017, with clinical data published in Lancet Oncology.
Tagraxofusp-erzs (Elzonris®)
First approved therapy for children and adults with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN). Approved December 21, 2018, with clinical data published in New England Journal of Medicine.
Duvelisib (Copiktra®)
First dual inhibitor of PI3K-delta and gamma pathways to be included in NCCN Guidelines as a designated option for patients with all subtypes of peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). Included December 22, 2021, with clinical data presented during the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Meeting.
Mavorixafor (Xolremdi®)
First approved therapy for patients 12 years of age and older with WHIM syndrome (warts, hypogammaglobulinemia, infections and myelokathexis). Approved April 29, 2024, with clinical data published in Blood.
Discover more breakthroughs in the pipeline
See how TAP partners advance promising therapies for all kinds of blood cancers.
Meet companies funded by TAP
There are currently over thirty active clinical studies with TAP-supported therapies. Learn more about the companies collaborating with TAP and their clinical and preclinical programs.
Testimonials
Funding from leaders like ... TAP helps fuel the progress of our clinical development program, bringing next-generation treatments that much closer to patients. We're particularly excited to be working with TAP because it gives us access to their deep knowledge of blood cancer and their network of patients and drug development experts.
Rachel Haurwitz, PhD
Chief Executive Officer of Caribou Biosciences
We are thrilled to partner with Blood Cancer United TAP in our shared mission to bring transformative therapies to blood cancer patients. Our partnership with Blood Cancer United enables us to leverage their extensive expertise in blood cancer research and patient advocacy, and to tap into their vast network of physicians, scientists, and patients to better inform us and to support our objective of developing novel, cutting edge therapies that improve patient outcomes.
Nicholas Siciliano, PhD
Chief Executive Officer, Vittoria Biotherapeutics
The TAP team is under the leadership of Dr. Lore Gruenbaum, PhD, Senior Vice President & Chief Scientific Officer. The TAP team works closely with Javeed Froozan, Vice President, Business Development & Strategic Alliances, with input from other members of the BioMedical Research team to evaluate new opportunities.
Dr. Blaine Robinson joined Blood Cancer United in 2011 and was recently promoted in January 2025 to Vice President of the Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP), the venture philanthropy initiative aiming to accelerate high-risk, innovative blood cancer therapeutics. He works closely with the entire Blood Cancer United Research team and is responsible for identifying and evaluating potential blood cancer drug development opportunities for investment. He has over 20 years of research, drug development and project management experience in the blood cancer field. During his tenure at Blood Cancer United, he has managed over 25 TAP partnerships and has helped perform scientific due diligence on hundreds of opportunities for TAP.
Prior to Blood Cancer United, Dr. Robinson worked at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where he completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship and continued on as a Research Associate for five years where he was in charge of all research laboratory operations and project management duties in a pediatric leukemia laboratory. He received his Ph.D. degree in Pharmacology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI.
Dr. Jun Xu joined Blood Cancer United in 2011 as Director of Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP). She was recently promoted from Executive Director – Therapy Acceleration Program Lead to Vice President, Research Business Development & Scientific Strategy. Dr. Xu participates in scientific and business due diligence of TAP funding inquiries. Leveraging her deep scientific knowledge in oncology and immunology and business insight, Dr. Xu has been very successful in selecting high potential TAP projects, such as Kite and Stemline, which led to the TAP-supported approval of Yescarta and Elzonris, respectively. She championed both TAP investments in FortySeven, which generated more than $40 million return on investment to further Blood Cancer United Mission. Dr. Xu has been an integral member of the TAP team in continuously revising TAP strategy. Dr. Xu is highly respected by and influential to TAP partners. She serves on Research Advisory Committees for a diverse Blood Cancer United TAP portfolio.
Prior to joining Blood Cancer United Dr. Xu spent more than 16 years working in healthcare industry including more than a decade at Pfizer. Dr. Xu has broad and in-depth experience in drug discovery and development, especially in oncology and inflammation therapeutic areas. She had successfully led multiple projects from target validation to clinical development. Dr. Xu has published in peer reviewed journals including Nature and is the lead inventor for several patents. Dr. Xu received her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego and conducted her postdoc research at the California Institute of Technology under the mentorship of Dr. Melvin I. Simon.
These bodies provide oversight and guidance on the Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP), a strategic initiative through which we partner directly with biotechnology companies to help accelerate the development of promising therapies.
Board Member
Board Member
Board Member
Board Member
Board Member
Board Member
Stephen Ansell, MD, PhD
Mayo Clinic Rochester
Philippe Armand, MD, PhD
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
John Byrd, MD
University of Cincinnati
Asher Chanan-Khan, MD
Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville
Madhav Dhodapkar, MBBS
Emory University
Courtney DiNardo, MD
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Giulio Draetta, MD, PhD
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Ian Flinn, MD, PhD
Sarah Cannon Research Institute
Christopher Flowers, MD
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Patrick Fortune, PhD, MBA
Partners Heathcare Systems
Mitul Gandhi, MD
Virginia Cancer Specialists
Steven Horwitz, MD
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Tapan Kadia, MD
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Ross Levine, MD
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Hyam Levitsky, MD
President of R&D at Century Therapeutics (former)
Ronald Levy, MD
Stanford University School of Medicine
Frederick Locke, MD
Moffitt Cancer Center
Tak Mak, PhD
Princess Margaret Cancer Center
Ruben Mesa, MD
Wake Forest Baptist
Vern Norviel, JD
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Susan O’Brien, MD
University of California, Irvine
Daniel Pollyea, MD
University of Colorado
Steven Rosen, MD
City of Hope
Michael Savona, MD
Vanderbilt University
Aaron Schimmer, MD, PhD
Princess Margaret Cancer Center
Jeff Sharman, MD
US Oncology
Robert Spiegel, MD
Spiegel Consulting LLC
Daniel Starcyznowski, PhD
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital
Keith Stewart, MD
Princess Margaret Cancer Center
Sarah Tasian, MD
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Amit Verma, MD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Become a TAP Partner
Get details on how TAP partners with companies, our research investment strategy/process, and the benefits TAP can provide to your company.
