14 april 2022• PRESS RELEASE
The National Growth Fund awards large grants to two consortia of which the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) is a part. Pharma-NL will receive 80 million euros and Oncode-PACT 325 million euros under certain conditions. Pharma-NL will invest in the infrastructure needed for the development and availability of essential medicines. Oncode-PACT wants to develop promising candidate cancer drugs faster and cheaper and thus bring them to patients sooner.
Pharma-NL
With the award, PharmaNL is committed to strengthening and scaling up research facilities and stimulating the associated human capital. This represents an important impulse for new activity within the pharmaceutical sector. This is an important precondition for both innovative therapy development and innovations in drug production technologies.
PharmaNL is a national public-private consortium consisting of Leiden University and the LUMC, Groningen campus, LIFE Cooperative, Pivot Park and in close collaboration with FAST† “PharmaNL is unique. With this consortium, we are joining forces to structurally strengthen the competitiveness and competitive position of the Dutch pharmaceutical value chain, thereby facilitating the infrastructure required for the development, market introduction and availability of essential medicines. Together with stakeholders, we will now further flesh out the ambitions of PharmaNL,” said Brigitte Drees, director of Pivot Park Oss.
Oncode-PACT
The development of a medicine takes on average 10 to 15 years, calculated from the first scientific insights until the moment that patients have access to it. Too often, at the end of this lengthy development process, the drug candidate is not effective enough, or for other reasons does not reach the right patient. Oncode-PACT wants to change this.
Oncode-PACT has the ambition to develop new and demonstrably effective cancer drugs faster and cheaper. The medical necessity is great, because cancer is still the number 1 cause of death in our country. Alain Kummer, chairman of Oncode-PACT, explains: “At the moment the preclinical development process is not yet sufficiently linked to clinical practice and the patient only comes into the picture much too late. By deploying patient data and tissues early – using organoid technology and artificial intelligence – we can assess whether a potential drug is effective and safe much earlier in the process and with greater certainty.”
Sjoerd van der Burg, professor of Immunotherapy and one of the workstream leaders of Oncode-PACT, is involved from the LUMC. “The LUMC has been an important national and international player in the field of immunotherapy for cancer for years. Oncode-PACT will give the development of immunotherapeutic options within the LUMC, and in collaboration with the business community, an enormous boost,” says Van der Burg .
More information can be found on the website of the national government.
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