Revlon Charts New Course for Philanthropy

First Phase Is A $1 Million Donation to Fund Life-Saving Cancer Research, Honoring 
Dr. Dennis J. Slamon’s Work at Revlon/UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program

New York, NY, June 17, 2015: Revlon announced a $1 million donation to the Revlon/UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program, furthering its long-time commitment to eradicating women’s cancers.  The donation was unveiled by Revlon Chairman Ronald O. Perelman, CEO Lorenzo Delpani, and Global Brand Ambassador Halle Berry at a LOVE IS ON celebratory luncheon Wednesday, June 3rd in Los Angeles, honoring Dr. Dennis J. Slamon, M.D., Ph.D., and Director of the Revlon/UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, for his outstanding achievements in cancer research.  The effort is the first phase of Revlon’s new philanthropic platform of bigger and more impactful donations to women’s health initiatives that is in keeping with Revlon’s LOVE IS ON global mission to inspire love. 

“LOVE IS ON is in everything we do at Revlon, including our commitment to caring for women’s health,” says Lorenzo Delpani, CEO of Revlon, Inc. “It is LOVE that inspired our philanthropic direction to make more significant and impactful donations to women’s health initiatives. We unveiled the first phase of this mission with a direct donation of $1 million to Dr. Dennis Slamon and the Revlon/UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program. It is our goal that this donation will help to enable Dr. Slamon and his team to continue their research into major cancer breakthroughs that will lead to lives being saved, ultimately finding a cure.” 

Revlon’s relationship with Dr. Slamon began in 1990, when through a groundbreaking gift, Ronald 
O. Perelman and Revlon funded the research that was needed to bring the cancer treatment drug Herceptin to market. Before the drug was developed, breast-cancer patients with high levels of the human epidural growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) faced a bleak prognosis. Their aggressive tumors were far less likely to respond to standard therapies. Now, these women have among the highest survival rates, and today Herceptin is standard treatment for women with HER2+ tumors. It has been found that when offered in combination with other therapies, including chemotherapy or surgery, Herceptin dramatically reduces breast-cancer-recurrence rates, without causing the adverse side effects such as hair loss and nausea that often accompany conventional chemotherapies. 

“Over 20 years ago, we made the decision to fund research that promised to change the face of breast cancer treatment forever. Some said it was a risk,” said Ronald O. Perelman, Chairman of Revlon, Inc., “but one that has proven very successful.  As we know today, Herceptin has become one of the most important drugs in treating certain types of breast cancer and has turned one of the deadliest forms of the disease into one of the most treatable. Revlon is committed to continuing the fight against all cancers and to doing so alongside Dr. Slamon.” 

The latest numbers are impressive. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2011 found that treating HER2+ early stage breast-cancer patients with a combination of chemotherapy and Herceptin significantly reduced recurrence rates by half in specific types of early HER2+ breast cancer and by one-third in metastatic HER2+ patients. It increased survival by about 35% and 30%, respectively, in those early and metastatic HER2+ breast cancers. In 2014, a large study led by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, found that adding a year of Herceptin to standard chemotherapy for HER2+ patients improved overall survival by 37% and boosted 10-year overall survival rates from 75% to 84%.

Building upon this legacy, Dr. Dennis J. Slamon recently led the recent decade-long development of Ibrance, the groundbreaking new drug to treat patients with ER+/HER2- breast cancer, the most common form of the disease. Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January 2015, Ibrance signals a new strategy for arresting tumor growth and extending the time before cancer worsens in women with metastatic disease.

“We have made tremendous advancements in the field of breast cancer treatments over the past two decades, but our work is far from over,” said Dr. Dennis J. Slamon. “We are currently working on potential new therapies and treatments for triple-negative breast cancer and ovarian cancer, and this extremely generous donation will help us to continue this groundbreaking research that has the potential to save the lives of more women battling these deadly diseases.”

Since 1990, Ronald Perelman and Revlon, through collaboration with the Entertainment Industry Foundation and Lilly Tartikoff, have distributed $49 million to the Revlon/UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program and Dr. Dennis J. Slamon. These funds have helped accelerate critical research needed to bring cancer treatment drugs such as Herceptin and Ibrance to market. Moving forward, Revlon will be unveiling a new campaign later this year to raise awareness and funds in support of other noteworthy women’s health initiatives.

“The goal of our new philanthropy effort is to provide funding at a level that will truly make a difference in women’s lives,” added Lorenzo Delpani, CEO of Revlon, Inc. “We are confident that this new path will continue to have a significant impact on women’s health initiatives.”