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A new gear in the fight against cancer
"Outsmarting cancer, impacting lives." Under this motto, Oncode Institute has been fighting against cancer since its founding in 2017. Co-initiated by Oncode Institute, the Oncode Accelerator program has recently been established to take a new step: innovating the preclinical drug development process.
Using innovation platforms that are widely available to researchers, major steps are being made in acceleration and efficiency. Professor Gerard van Westen, AI specialist at Leiden University and Professor Miriam Koopman, internist-oncologist at UMC Utrecht, answer four pressing questions.
What is Oncode Accelerator and why was it established?
The development of cancer therapies is an expensive, time-consuming and high-risk process. Moreover, newly developed therapies are often only effective in a small group of the intended patient population. "The Dutch oncology field is of a high-standard, but the latest scientific insights are not currently being applied in the preclinical development process", says Gerard van Westen. "That is why Oncode Accelerator was founded". This public-private partnership program is accessible to all cancer researchers and companies and will innovate the preclinical phase of drug development.
How will Oncode Accelerator innovate preclinical research?
"Oncode Accelerator utilizes the power of three technologies: Well-defined Patient Cohorts, Organoid Models and Artificial Intelligence (AI)", explains Miriam Koopman. "In this way, the patient is brought into the lab". This does not happen literally, but by using patient data and patient-specific organoid models with patient consent. Oncode Accelerator will apply these innovation platforms within four product types: Small Molecules, Biologics (such as antibodies), Cell and gene therapies, and Therapeutic vaccines. "The aim with this, is to increase the success rate of the development process".
Will patients see benefits from this in the short term?
The innovation platforms can also be used to provide personalized treatment advice. "A system is being built within the technology platform Well-defined Patient Cohorts, so that real-time data available from the Dutch Cancer Registry can be used in the near future", Koopman says. Oncode Accelerator will also provide a central place to quickly see what options are available for a patient to participate in an early clinical trial. "We are already putting a lot of effort into this within the colorectal cancer cohort (PLCRC), which now involves 63 hospitals and nearly 18,000 patients". In the coming years, more of such cohorts will be established. Although the AI platform initially consists of fundamental research, the results will be made available as a toolkit later on. "Being able to deploy AI for the benefit of patient care in this way is the ultimate daily challenge for me", Van Westen adds.
What can researchers and companies expect from Oncode Accelerator? How can they participate?
"Jointly innovate and accelerate", says Van Westen. "As a service provider, you can connect with the program and contribute to the accelerated development of new cancer therapies through the application of new technology." Koopman adds: "Or as an institution or company, you can submit a proposal for a so-called demonstration project to validate the new approach." Within these projects, promising new therapies are developed through the innovated Oncode Accelerator infrastructure, with a significant part of the costs being funded by the program. Applications are reviewed by an independent committee of experts. Additionally, the innovated infrastructure, or certain elements of it, can be used for a fee to develop new patient-centered cancer therapies.
About Oncode Accelerator:
Oncode Accelerator is a unique national collaboration of more than 30 public and private partners and is coordinated by six partners: Leiden University, Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Princess Máxima Center, UMC Utrecht and the Oncode Accelerator Foundation. Oncode Accelerator improves and accelerates the development of new cancer therapies by involving the patient earlier in this process. Oncode Accelerator has received funding from the Dutch National Growth Fund (NGF) and is supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy; the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science & the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
This article first appeared in Dutch (page 3).