The development of a medicine takes on average 10 to 15 years, from the first scientific insights obtained in the laboratory, to the moment that patients can have access to it. However, it is a common occurrence that a drug candidate is not effective enough, or it does not reach the right patient for other reasons during this lengthy process. Low success rates, often due to late failures in drug development process, come at a high cost following the considerable expense of validation and testing. The current development process of anti-cancer drugs is therefore expensive, takes too long, and usually works only for a subset of the intended target patients. Oncode-PACT aims to provide solutions to these problems.
Patients in the lab
Oncode-PACT has the ambition to develop new demonstrably effective cancer drugs faster and more cost-effectively. The medical need is urgent, because cancer remains the number one cause of death in the Netherlands.
Alain Kummer, Managing Director Oncode Institute and Chairman of Oncode-PACT, explains: “Oncode-PACT places the patient at the center of the entire drug development chain. In the current situation, the preclinical development process is still insufficiently connected with the clinical practice, and we focus on the patient too late in the drug development process. By deploying patient data and tissues from patients early in the development process – for example organoid technology and artificial intelligence – it is possible to assess whether a potential drug could be effective and safe much earlier than is currently possible, and with greater certainty. In addition, animal testing can be decreased.”
With this funding, we can fast track our recently established ImmunoTherapy Center and immune monitoring unit. This ensures a faster translation of new concepts and immunotherapies for cancer into the clinic." Tanja de Gruijl, Professor of Translational Tumor Immunology.
About Oncode-PACT
Oncode-PACT is a unique national consortium of public and private partners, in which Oncode Institute is the lead party. Within Oncode-PACT, researchers, oncologists, knowledge institutes, and the business community work together to develop better and affordable cancer medicines more quickly.
At Cancer Center Amsterdam, Prof. Tanja de Gruijl, Prof. Arjan Griffioen, and Prof. Yvette van Kooyk are involved in the consortium with a focus on accelerating clinical applications of cancer vaccines.
For more information, contact Prof. Tanja de Gruijl, or see oncode.nl/Oncode-PACT, or read about the National Growth Fund and the granted investment project proposals at: www.nationaalgroeifonds.nl.
Oncode-PACT researchers at Cancer Center Amsterdam – Amsterdam UMC:
Prof. Tanja de Gruijl - Medical Oncology
Prof. Arjan Griffioen - Medical Oncology
Prof. Yvette van Kooyk - Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology