Thursday Event to Honor BTIG CEO for Work off the Trading Desk
New York, May 20 2010- Jacobs’s Cure, a non-profit foundation created to find a cure for Canavan, a fatal genetic brain disease, today announced it plans to host a DREAM BIG gala to honor long-time board members, Farrel and Steven Starker, CEO of BTIG LLC, and to raise the funds necessary to find a lifesaving treatment for Canavan children around the world.
The gala will be held on May 20, 2010, at Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers, in New York City and will be attended by more than 750 influential New Yorkers in the fields of finance, real estate, fashion and sports. The event will be hosted by Donny Deutsch, TV personality and Chairman of Deutsch Inc. and guests such as Eli Manning, Gavin Degraw and Vanessa Williams.
The Starker family joined the Jacob’s Cure board in September 2000 when Jordana Holovach launched the foundation. Since then they have raised more than two million dollars for the fight against Canavan disease.
“Farrel and Steven have worked tirelessly to support Jacob’s Cure over the last 10 years,” said Holovach. “With federal funding for research in Canavan disease limited, particularly as a result of the economic crisis, it is the work of individuals like the Starkers that makes the difference between funding this lifesaving research and not.” With a nod to Wall Street, Jacob’s Cure attributes its advancement in research to the generosity Steven has rallied from his colleagues all year, but particularly during BTIG’s Commissions for Charity Day where Jacob’s Cure is amongst many children’s charities that receive sizeable donations.
Canavan disease affects children at birth. The disease robs children of any milestones so they are essentially trapped in their bodies; they cannot sit, crawl, walk or say a single word. They develop seizures, lose their eyesight and ability to swallow, and become too compromised to fight off illness. The disease is usually fatal within the first decade of the child’s life.
Funds raised from the gala will support a phase 1 clinical stem cell trial for 20 Canavan children. This cutting edge research is the result of a partnership Jacob’s Cure initiated with Geron Corporation, who is providing the stem cells. While not the norm for a biotech company to have an interest in a rare disease, Geron jumped on the opportunity to work with the Canavan researchers led by Dr. Paola Leone (UMDNJ) because they are established leaders in the field of clinical research and Canavan has proven to be an excellent model for bigger white matter diseases such as Parkinson’s and MS. “We are proud to collaborate with Dr. Paola Leone and the Canavan research team on developing a stem cell based treatment for Canavan disease, and we are especially grateful for Jacob’s Cure’s support of the research” explains Ed Wirth, M.D., Ph.D. Medical Director of Regenerative Medicine for Geron Corporation.
Jacob’s Cure was founded to promote awareness and raise funds for scientific research in Canavan disease. The disease is considered rare by governmental standards and therefore federal funding for research remains scarce.
For further information on the DREAM BIG gala or to purchase tickets please visit www.jacobscure.org.
Media Enquiries
Kelsea Michael at +1.212.279.3115, ext. 231, kmichael@cjpcom.com
Jill Greenwood at +1.212.279.3115, ext.252, jgreenwood@cjpcom.com
About Jacob’s Cure
Jacob’s Cure is a 501c3 non-profit foundation dedicated to raising the funds necessary to cure Canavan disease, a fatal genetic brain disorder that affects children at birth. Because of an enzyme deficiency, an acid in the brain accumulates to dangerous levels causing catastrophic effects to the normal formation of myelin (white matter) in the brain that is responsible for transmitting nerve impulses from one part of the body to another. It is the lack of white matter that leaves Canavan children incapable of performing the simplest functions. Even if they live to their full life expectancy – 3 to 10 years – they become blind, paralyzed, prone to seizures…and increasingly lost to the world around them.
Since its inception in September 2000, Jacob’s Cure proudly allocates monies raised to research in gene-therapy, stem cell transplantation, pharmacological approaches and basic science in understanding the disease. Our efforts to date have resulted in successful gene-therapy trials and pharmaceutical interventions that have, in most cases, stopped the progression of this quickly deteriorating disorder in Canavan children worldwide. In fact, some of our groundbreaking work has led to trials for more commonly known disorders such as Parkinson’s, MS and ALS.Our goal is now the cure. In collaboration with several research labs and the biotech industry, our efforts and funding is moving research towards an exciting stem cell clinical trial for Canavan children worldwide.
Jacob's Cure is thrilled to be participating in BTIG's 8th Commissions for Charity Day on Thursday, May 6th 2010. The success of the day is 100% drive by how much business institutional accounts choose to do with BTIG on that day. Please support Jacob's Cure and all the other important causes we stand beside that day by sending your orders to BTIG.
What is unique about this day and BTIG?
BTIG now has 400+ employees with 1,500 active institutional accounts. This makes BTIG the perfect facility to provide the institutional community a great conduit to give back to a large group of important charities. With a leading position in trading volume on a daily basis vs. our peers, this Charity Day is a great one to support from the client's perspective.
For more information about Jacob's Cure, please visit our website at www.jacobscure.org,
call us at 914.502.4249 or email sarah@jacobscure.org
ADVISORY, April 9, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
What:
Jacob's Cure will visit the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York City's Times Square.
In honor of the occasion, Jordana Holovach, Founder of Jacob's Cure, will preside over the NASDAQ Opening Bell.
Where:
NASDAQ MarketSite – 4 Times Square – 43rd & Broadway – Broadcast Studio
When:
Friday, April 9th, 2010 at 9:15 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET
Contacts:
Jill Greenwood
(212) 279-3115 ext. 252
(203) 913-6298
jgreenwood@cjpcom.com
NASDAQ:
Robert Madden
(646) 441-5045
Robert.Madden@NASDAQOMX.com
Feed Information:
The Opening Bell is available from 9:20 a.m. to 9:35 a.m. on Galaxy 19 C/15, downlink frequency 4000 vertical. The feed can also be found on Ascent fiber 1623. If you have any questions, please contact Robert Madden at (646) 441-5045.
Radio Feed:
An audio transmission of the Opening Bell is also available from 9:20 a.m. to 9:35 a.m. on uplink IA6 C band / transponder 24, downlink frequency 4180 horizontal. The feed can be found on Ascent fiber 1623 as well.
Facebook and Twitter:
For multimedia features such as exclusive content, photo postings, status updates and video of bell ceremonies please visit our Facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/
Webcast:
Photos:
About Jacob's Cure:
Jacob's Cure is a non-profit organization founded by Jordana Holovach to save her son, Jacob, who was diagnosed with Canavan Disease at six months old. Children with Canavan become trapped in their bodies, develop seizures, lose their ability to see and swallow, and die in the first decade of life. The research funded by Jacob's Cure has slowed or halted the progression of the disease in most of the children who received gene-therapy and have begun the recommended pharmacological regimen. While there is currently no cure for Canavan Disease, Jacob's Cure is funding a stem cell trial that aims to further treat and ultimately cure Canavan disease. This stem cell research may very well revolutionize the manner in which "white matter" neurological diseases, such as Parkinson's, MS and ALS, are treated and will be a model for their cure.
About NASDAQ OMX:
(http://www.facebook.com/
NDAQA
Source:The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.
A live webcast of the NASDAQ Opening Bell will be available at:
http://www.nasdaq.com/about/
To obtain a hi-resolution photograph of the Market Open, please go to http://www.nasdaq.com/
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world's largest exchange company. It delivers trading, exchange technology and public company services across six continents, with over 3,700 listed companies. NASDAQ OMX offers multiple capital raising solutions to companies around the globe, including its U.S. listings market, NASDAQ OMX Nordic, NASDAQ OMX Baltic, NASDAQ OMX First North, and the U.S. 144A sector. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and exchange-traded funds. NASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 70 exchanges, clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more than 50 countries. NASDAQ OMX Nordic and NASDAQ OMX Baltic are not legal entities but describe the common offering from NASDAQ OMX exchanges in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. For more information about NASDAQ OMX, visit http://www.nasdaqomx.com. *Please follow NASDAQ OMX on Facebook
Small Disease takes New York City by storm with the release of its 30-second TV spot on TAXI TV. If you caught it, you will no doubt remember it. If you missed it, here it is.
25 million people suffer from a rare disease... Canavan is one of those diseases. This how the spot begins; you are immediately captivated and wonder, "Am I a carrier?"
Jacob's Cure - A Fight Against Canavan Disease, is the foundation who created the spot. "It is thrilling to have this outreach opportunity," says Jordana Holovach, Director of Jacob's Cure. "We are reaching 1.3 million people who would have never heard about Canavan disease and might want to support us in our fight for the cure and consider testing for carrier status."
As a result of Taxi TV, WABC - Channel 7 has offered to air the spot as a PSA as well starting immediately.
For More Information
Please Visit www.jacobscure.org
Contact: Jordana Holovach (914) 673-2796