Chrysler, Lee Iacocca, and the Iacocca Foundation have announced new details regarding the JoinLeeNow diabetes fundraising effort. Chrysler Group will become an official sponsor of the initiative that aims to raise funds for a clinical trial to test a potential cure for type 1 diabetes. As part of the sponsorship, Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealer advertising associations are contributing $1 for every car sold beginning November 1, 2005, the first day of National Diabetes Month. The program will run through the end of 2006.
“I promised my late wife that I would help to find a cure for type 1
diabetes in my lifetime. I feel like we are finally close. I’m very grateful for everything Chrysler is doing to help us reach our goal,” said Lee Iacocca, Chairman of the Iacocca Foundation.
Launched in August of 2004, JoinLeeNow has raised six of the 11 million
dollars it needs to fund a clinical trial at Massachusetts General Hospital
that will be conducted by Dr. David Nathan and Dr. Denise Faustman. The first phase of the clinical trial program will test a potential cure for type 1 diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks the islet cells of the pancreas, which are the cells in the body that produce insulin.
