Thanks to the QbD chair, Leuven professor Frederik De Smet is looking for better treatments for glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain tumors. QbD is a consultant in life sciences, the company of his old colleague Bart Van Acker. A personal drama was the basis for their collaboration.
It came as a shock, Bart Van Acker admits, when he learned in early 2020 that his friend Pieter Van Vlierberghe had been told that he had developed glioblastoma, a serious brain tumor. “A few weeks earlier he had been to our company because there was a collection he had organized, a campaign for Kom op tegen Kanker. I remember him saying that he didn’t feel very good about himself and often had headaches. He thought he might be a bit overworked, facing burnout, or perhaps depression. His father-in-law, a doctor, advised him to have a scan. It turned out that he had already developed a tumor the size of a large ping-pong ball.” Pieter Van Vlierberghe, born in 1980, died at the end of December.
Pieter knew that he would no longer benefit from additional research, but that after him others might have a better chance of recovery inspired him’ BART VAN ACKER, QUALITY BY DESIGN
Van Acker, a fast talker, shifts down a few gears when he tells the story. He had known Pieter Van Vlierberghe since high school. They became best friends and studied bioengineering together, first in their home city of Antwerp, then in Leuven. Not only did they sit next to each other in the auditoriums, they also went cycling and played football together. “If you saw Bart, you saw Pieter, and vice versa,” remembers research professor Frederik De Smet.
After their studies in Leuven, Van Vlierberghe obtained his doctorate in Rotterdam and subsequently became a researcher at Columbia University in New York. Childhood leukemia became his specialty. His knowledge was noticed in his own country, and he was able to start a research group at Ghent University. “Pieter was a very smart guy. He has helped hundreds of children get rid of leukemia. He was one of the top people in his field,” says Van Acker. Van Vlierberghe has been honored several times for his research work, including the Baillet Latour Fund prize in 2018 and recognition from the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences in 2020.
BART VAN ACKER and FREDERIK DE SMET “We develop methods to better tailor existing treatments.” © DEBBY TERMONIA
Van Vlierberghe became ill in February 2020. The tumor turned out to be in a good place, at the front of his head, and could be removed quickly. “That’s strange to say, but Pieter before or after the operation was still the same Pieter. Full of energy, full of plans.” But then Covid came, which made a lot of things no longer possible. “Pieter called me with the idea of doing additional research into glioblastoma. He had contacted Frederik again, because he knew that he was working on that. Pieter asked: ‘Can’t we do something together? Couldn’t you support or sponsor that?’ Of course, I didn’t have to think about that for long,” says Van Acker.
The Red Thread
Van Acker founded his own company twelve years ago, Quality by Design (QbD), a life sciences consultant that guides companies in the complete development of their idea into a full-fledged medicine or treatment for the patient. Through numerous acquisitions, QbD has become a large company with 600 employees and ten branches in European and South American countries. Last year, QbD generated a turnover of 60 million euros.
Frederik De Smet, like Pieter Van Vlierberghe, went in the academic direction. After graduating in 2003, he was able to obtain his doctorate at VIB, the center for cancer biology of professor Peter Carmeliet. He then moved to the United States, where he conducted research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, one of Harvard’s research centers, and also at the Broad Institute in Massachusetts, founded by the creator of the human genome project, where the entire structure of human DNA was unraveled. “I learned a lot and developed many skills in those fantastic places,” says De Smet. “When the opportunity arose to start my own research center at the pathology department in Leuven, I returned to Belgium in 2016.”
In Flanders we have a high-performance biotech scene, but as academics we do not always know what is happening there’ FREDERIK DE SMET, PROFESSOR
Just like Van Vlierberghe, cancer is the common thread throughout De Smet’s research. “At first it was cancer in general, but in the US I focused on everything related to brain tumors. When I started in Leuven, research into brain tumors had not yet progressed that far. There were some clinicians who did research, but the combination of a clinic with neurosurgery or neuro-oncology is not at all self-evident. You need people who can devote themselves to research full-time. We are now doing this here in the lab, in close collaboration with the people at the University Hospital.”
Faster approval
De Smet’s research focuses on glioblastoma, high-grade brain tumors. “Fortunately, these are rare, but if you are diagnosed, it is very serious. Most patients die within one or two years, the chance of survival is less than 1 percent. Every year, around 500 people die from the consequences of glioblastoma,” says De Smet.
The big challenge in the research is that there is a lot of variation in the tumors. “In our jargon we call that heterogeneity. If you compare one patient with another, you see many differences at the molecular or genetic level, but they all fall under the heading of glioblastoma. The standard of care is the same for all patients. We are conducting research into how we can make the treatment more specific, more tailored to the patient.”
There is an important catch, because so-called clinical trials are conducted worldwide, but in order to receive recognition for that specific treatment, you must have enough patients with a positive response to the treatment or medicine. If the number of patients is too low, you cannot receive regulatory approval from authorities such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the European Medicines Agency (EMA). “Because there are relatively few patients with glioblastoma, and the variation within that glioblastoma is so great, it is very difficult to get approval for certain treatments,” De Smet explains.
PIETER VAN VLIERBERGHE He has been honored several times for his research work and received, among other things, the Baillet Latour Fund Prize in 2018. © GF
With his research, De Smet is trying to create an acceleration. “We develop methods to better target existing treatments, which have sometimes already received approval for the treatment of other cancers, so that we can make a better selection for the patients participating in the trials. The goal is to get approval for certain treatments more quickly. This applies to both classic chemotherapy and immunotherapy. We are developing methods that allow us to estimate in advance which treatment may work.”
Cross-pollination
Professor De Smet’s research center collaborates with many other Belgian and European centers for this purpose, but additional funding for more research is always welcome. That is why De Smet was very happy with Pieter Van Vlierberghe and Bart Van Acker’s plan for a chair. “You should never forget that it is about the brain, which is incredibly complex. This makes it extra difficult to take samples for research. You cannot open the brain every week to remove some extra tissue for research,” says Van Acker.
Pieter Van Vlierberghe had received the standard treatment, but he was very aware that it might not help, and that additional research is desperately needed. “He still responded well to the radiation and chemotherapy. After diagnosis, people live on average for another year and a half. For Pieter that was almost three years,” says De Smet. “He knew very well that he himself would no longer benefit from additional research, that it is a long-term work, but that after him others might have a better chance of recovery, that inspired him,” Van Acker adds. . “The idea of creating a chair for more research comes entirely from him. During Covid times, he came to my kitchen to present his idea, while five people from management listened. I didn’t know at the time that Frederik was researching glioblastoma, but Pieter had already made contact. Two hours after his presentation I called him to say, ‘We’re doing it!’”
In addition to the financial support, there is another reason why De Smet is happy with the chair, which was established in 2021. “As academics we have a reasonable view of what is happening in other research centers, but we do not always know what is going on in more commercial environments. While cross-pollination is very important. Bart’s network is very important. We have a high-performance biotech scene, especially in Flanders, but as academics we do not always know what is happening there. We can do the most fantastic research here, but the goal is for it to evolve into an approved medicine or treatment.”
That is the reason for QbD’s existence, Van Acker explains: “We assist small start-ups and medium-sized companies in developing their idea into a fully-fledged product. We cover the entire gamut: the regulatory, the quality, the clinical, even the commercial aspects of how you bring a product to the market. Due to the many acquisitions, we have a very broad spectrum of experts in-house, in all domains that matter. This ensures that you can work on the development of a product much more efficiently from day one. We are happy to put that network at the service of the chair.”
The chair is part of the QbD Foundation, the foundation in which all QbD social projects are grouped. The chair is by far the most important initiative. “The personal story was also very decisive, that Frederik and I knew each other, and that Pieter brought us together again. The first three years are now ending, but we have just signed a deal for the next three years. We will continue to do this, also in memory of Pieter.”
At least once a year, QbD organizes an event around the chair, says Van Acker. “Then Professor De Smet will clarify the progress. Even though it is frustrating to notice how slowly the research sometimes progresses, that is simply the nature of medical research. We also invite friends and relatives of Pieter to the event. It is also a tribute to him. The great thing is that this creates other initiatives that raise money for cancer research. For example, during the ZoniënTrail, a running race, money is raised for Frederik’s research. That is a very nice side effect of the chair.”
© National
2023-11-01 09:45:23
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