The Italian team made up of 9 employees of Bristol Myers Squibb (Bms), which takes part in the ‘Country 2 Country 4 Cancer’, leaves today from Boudry (Switzerland) to arrive on 7 September in Marseille (France), together with the teams from Austria and Switzerland , the charity cycling event organized by the pharmaceutical company and aimed at raising funds for cancer research and to support the organizations of the ‘Union for international cancer control’ (Uicc). The Italian stage of 2022 supports the ‘Social mobility’ project for oncohematological patients, as stated in a note released by Bms. Now in its seventh edition, the ‘Country 2 Country 4 Cancer’ (‘from country to country for cancer’) takes place from 2 to 19 September and sees the participation of 6 teams, with over 90 Bms employees, who will walk the streets of 5 European countries, from Munich to London, for a total of 2,200 km. The distance covered by each participant is 360 km in 3 days. “This year the funds that we will collect with the Italian team stage will be destined to support the ‘Mobility solidarity’ project of the Italian Association against leukemia, lymphomas and myeloma (Ail) – says Emma Charles, general manager Bristol Myers Squibb Italy -. About half a million people live today in Italy with a form of blood cancer. These pathologies have a very strong impact on the lives of patients and their families, because complex treatment paths involve long periods of hospitalization. Patients often have to face practical difficulties, such as traveling to specialized treatment centers, in many cases far from the city of residence “. Health mobility – reads the note – concerns thousands of haematological patients, often pediatric, and the economic burden of this phenomenon falls totally on patients and families. “The diagnosis of a blood cancer always has a strong impact on the life of the patient and those close to him – says Pino Toro, national president of AIL -. In addition to the emotional upheaval, the patient must also face a series of practical difficulties, not least those related to a possible shift to follow the therapies. The mission of our Association has been, for over 50 years, to stay close to patients by providing them with support from the moment of diagnosis and throughout the treatment process, which is often long and tiring. In fact, in addition to managing the impact that the disease has on their lives – continues Toro – patients and caregivers often have to face the difficulty and cost of traveling to highly specialized treatment centers to follow innovative therapies, transplants and rehabilitation “. As President Ail recalls, the “luckiest patients can find” suitable references “close to home but, in many cases, the reference hematology center is many kilometers away. These are often complicated and expensive journeys, between cities and regions that are also very distant from each other. Also thanks to the Country 2 Country 4 Cancer initiative promoted by Bristol Myers Squibb, Ail, with the ‘Mobility solidarity’ project, has been able to provide economic support to patients and their families since 2019 in order to face the distant care path with serenity from home. “” The ‘Country 2 Country 4 Cancer’ – observes the General Manager of Bms – is not a race, but a real team experience that testifies to the deep commitment of Bristol Myers Squibb for the patients who inspire us every day in everything we do and are at the center of our mission which has always been to discover, develop and make available innovative drugs to fight against serious diseases “. Since the first edition in 2016, more than 450 employees of the company have participated in the European initiative and approximately 2 million dollars have been raised for cancer patients. To support cyclists in raising funds, you can visit the website www.uicc.org/c2c4ceu or follow the race on Linkedin (# C2c4c).