Under the name DARE-NL, a new partnership has been launched in the Netherlands that will focus entirely on the development of cell and gene therapy. Almost every Dutch cancer research institute has joined DARE-NL. KWF has allocated 5.3 million euros to use this initiative to improve the availability of promising cell and gene therapies so that more patients can benefit from potentially life-saving new treatments.
Living body cells
Cell therapy is a treatment in which living cells of the body undergo a process in a laboratory that makes them better able to detect and destroy tumor cells. Those processed cells are then placed back into the patient’s body. The cells can come from the patient himself, but donor cells can also be used. When the DNA of the immune cells is also modified, this is referred to as gene therapy.
Impressive results have been achieved in recent years with cell and gene therapy in which patients remain disease-free for a long time and sometimes even permanently. Often these are patients for whom other treatments have not worked. Cell and gene therapy gives them a new perspective.
Bottlenecks
However, things are not going very smoothly with the uptake of cell and gene therapy in our country. Few treatments have been approved yet, and many cell and gene therapies never reach the patient. KWF has made an inventory of the bottlenecks in the report ‘Cell and gene therapy to oncological clinical practice’.
- Scientific uncertainties in the field of research methodology, safety and effectiveness and production;
- Fragmented knowledge and experience between universities, research institutes, governments and other parties;
- Limited availability and high cost of raw materials;
- Shortage of specialist trained personnel;
- Complicated legislation and regulations that lag behind medical-technological developments;
- Insufficient experience with the registration process of cell and gene therapy;
- Legal challenges due to limited knowledge of property rights;
- Limited insight into cost prices and reimbursement options by health insurers.
The DARE-NL project team consists of renowned researchers from all eight university medical centers, the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology, the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Sanquin Research and the Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences of Utrecht University. In the coming years, DARE-NL wants to commit itself to more research, improved regulations and improvements in the production of cell and gene therapy with the aim of better availability for cancer patients in the Netherlands.
More information
View the report ‘Cell and gene therapy to oncology clinical practice’
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