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Our Impact
The development of cancer therapies is too expensive, takes too much time, and fails too often. Oncode Accelerator exists to change this.
The Challenge
Bringing new cancer therapies from the research lab to patients is an expensive and time-consuming process that fails too often. Developing a new drug can take 15 or more years and cost over 1 billion euros. Even with this enormous investment of time, effort, and money, over 90% of new cancer drugs entering clinical trials fail.
Success in the clinic relies on therapies being effective for diverse patients, but we often do not capture this diversity in preclinical development. Traditionally, preclinical development relies on generic model systems that often focus on the ‘average’ patient rather than representing diverse individuals.
Our Mission
By innovating the preclinical stages of drug development to capture the true diversity of patients early, we can increase the chance of success that therapies will eventually have in the clinic and on the market. This conviction drives our mission: to collaboratively optimize and accelerate the development of new cancer therapies for the benefit of patients of all ages.
Our Strategy
At Oncode Accelerator, we have built and are scaling an oncology ecosystem that focuses on keeping the patient central in the preclinical development of cancer therapies. By using relevant patient data and materials, such as patient-derived organoid (mini-organ) models, alongside innovative technologies like artificial intelligence, it is possible to make earlier and more accurate predictions of the safety and effectiveness of newly developed therapies for specific patient groups. This can de-risk drug development by not only identifying the most promising drugs, but also identifying drugs likely to fail in clinical trials early on. This should make drug development more efficient and sustainable, and reduce timelines and costs.
Ideas Progress Faster Together
Through Demonstrator Projects, Oncode Accelerator offers drug developers access to the best technology, brightest minds, and project co-funding so that great ideas can progress faster. Simultaneously, Demonstrator Projects allow us to validate the infrastructure in our oncology ecosystem, demonstrating the value of innovating the way we develop new cancer therapies.
Translating Breakthrough Cancer Research into Real-World Impact
By building a sustainable and innovative ecosystem for oncology drug development, our work contributes to:
Societal Impact
By innovating the way that new cancer drugs are developed, we aim to foster the development of therapies that better match patient needs, reduce development costs, accelerate development timelines, and de-risk the complicated preclinical drug development process. This should provide patients with access to innovative therapies sooner, ultimately improving patients’ quality of life.
Scientific Impact
In the Oncode Accelerator program, we develop new models and technologies, and build up the scientific infrastructure for drug discovery and development. Our program is designed to support the sharing of new scientific insights and stimulate knowledge exchange between academia, industry, and clinical practice. We collaborate globally to drive scientific progress, providing drug developers from around the world with access to our ecosystem. We also cooperate with regulatory authorities to ensure that drug development starts with the end in mind.
Economic Impact
By establishing a global hub for oncology innovation, we strengthen and stimulate the life sciences and health industry, which has been identified as a key strategic domain for investment in Europe. Building future-proof infrastructure, offering unique services, stimulating start-ups and spin-outs, and fostering top talent can also boost economic resilience and prosperity.
Impact Stories:
Outsmarting Cancer and Impacting Lives
The impact stories below showcase the tangible results of our mission in action. Read these stories to understand how cutting-edge science and a patient-centric approach come together to overcome barriers and bring us closer to our ultimate goal to Outsmart Cancer and Impact Lives.
Oncode Accelerator Pulse
Read the Oncode Accelerator Pulse for a clear snapshot of what’s happening in our cancer research ecosystem. In this biannual collection of stories, we highlight key developments, the people behind them, and their impact for science, patients, and the economy.
Oncode Accelerator Publications
Our program supports academic research that lays the groundwork for development of innovative cancer therapies.
For people with cancer, taking part in a clinical trial can feel uncertain. It is often not clear whether new treatments will work and if there will be side effects.
Oncode Accelerator aims to improve the likelihood that new therapies work by putting the patient at the center of research into new medicines, even before they are tested in humans.
In the so-called preclinical phase, which mainly takes place in laboratories, scientists study how the therapy works, whether it is safe, and whether it could benefit patients. Currently, there is too little connection between these preclinical studies and clinical practice, so the patient often comes into the picture too late. This has to change.
Oncode Accelerator is committed to bringing data and tissues from patients into this preclinical phase of the research process. This will help drug developers to better predict whether a potential new therapy is safe and works well for patients.
Keeping the Patient Central In Our Work
Our Patient Perspective articles bring forward the voices and lived experiences of people living with and beyond cancer. Through these stories, we remind ourselves what truly matters to patients and their families, as we work to outsmart cancer for their benefit.
Patient Biology at the Center of Drug Development
Oncode Accelerator’s Patient Cohorts Platform securely and anonymously collects health data from patients with their consent. This data can help design better therapies that fit patients' medical needs, and can be used to speed up preclinical research. By using this data intelligently, scientists can quickly determine if a treatment works, and if it works in a large group of patients or only in a smaller, more specific group.
Read More About Patient Cohorts
Within Oncode Accelerator, we also develop organoids: mini-organs or tumours that are made in the laboratory from biological material of patients. These organoids are a kind of ''human model'' for studying different types of cancer medicines. They can help researchers answer questions that are difficult to address using other research models, like animal models or single cells.
The information collected using organoids can be directly linked to patients' health data, such as data on the size or DNA of their tumor. Based on this information, artificial intelligence can be used to predict in advance which dose of which new therapy might work for which patient.
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