Oncode Accelerator at Innovation for Health 2024

The Innovation for Health conference is organised annually with the goal to connect key players in the health and life sciences sector. This year’s theme was “Breaking Boundaries for a Sustainable Future in Healthcare.” Last month, Oncode Accelerator organised a one-hour session during the conference to present the work in the program and ambitions. 

Arnoud Huisman, CEO and chairman of the board at the Oncode Accelerator foundation, opened the session by introducing the Oncode Accelerator program. He emphasised the mission: “To develop precision therapy by placing cancer patients at the core of preclinical drug development.” To achieve this, Oncode Accelerator collaborates with over 35 partners, both from the public and private sector. 

Cancer Research UK

Dr Rob Williams, Chief Drug Development Scientist at Cancer Research UK, introduced the work of his organisation. Cancer Research UK is the world’s largest charitable funder of cancer research and aims to bring more treatment options to patients by partnering with other organisations to create the biggest impact possible. The organisation has 30 years of experience and involves a multidisciplinary team of over 100 scientists, medica and operational staff. Dr Williams presented their latest work on the development of a novel class of immunotherapeutic. “A publicly funded charity and industry partners make things happen that otherwise wouldn’t progress to deliver patient benefit,” William shared. This supports the idea behind Oncode Accelerator to a joint effort of academia and industry. 

Organoid technology in Oncode Accelerator

After the inspiring talk of Dr Williams, Jarno Drost, co-lead of Oncode Accelerator's Organoids platform, elaborated on the importance and role of organoid technology in cancer therapy development. "The patient population needing cancer treatment is heterogenous and ideally preclinical models should reflect the same heterogeneity" said Jarno. This is addressed by using patient-specific preclinical models, such as organoids made from patient-derived (tumour) materials. A heterogenous preclinical model is developed when using materials from a substantial number of patients. 

One of Oncode Accelerator's innovative platforms is Organoids in which the Hubrecht Institute, UMC Utrecht, and the Princess Máxima Centre work together to improve the way  cancer drug are developed. 

Announcing the first call for Demonstrator Projects

The session was closed by Friso Smit, COO at the Oncode Accelerator foundation, who announced the opening of the upcoming first call for Demonstrator Projects. To validate the pipeline that Oncode Accelerator is developing for preclinical patient involvement, Demonstrator Project will be executed. Participating with a Demonstrator Project provides advantages, such as having access to the latest innovations in discovery and preclinical development, gaining access to well-defined patient cohorts, patient data and patient-derived models and receiving co-funding for the eligible Demonstrator Projects. Friso announced that the first call for these Demonstrator projects will be opened on April 8^th. 

The Innovation for Health conference provided Oncode Accelerator with the opportunity to introduce the audience to our work and to explain our added value for cancer therapy development, as well as to meet potential partners and Demonstrator Project customers from both the public and private sector. We would like to thank all our speakers for their inspiring presentations and to encourage all session participants to keep updated on our progress and stay in touch with us.