Sanofi makes Curie cancer deal
pharmafile | June 20, 2013 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Cancer, R&D, Sanofi, curie
Sanofi has signed a three-year research collaboration with the Curie Institute to identify new therapeutic targets which will help develop treatments for ovarian cancer.
It is the latest in a series of academia/pharma translational research tie-ups designed to shorten the route between discovery and commercialisation of promising drugs in a variety of areas.
There is a growing concensus that pharma’s traditional R&D model is untenable, which means hope is being pinned on the expertise of non-profit organisations and universities to plug the so-called ‘innovation gap’.
The Institut Curie has similar agreements with a number of companies, including one with Roche looking at biomarkers in triple-negative breast cancer.
The new Sanofi deal will operate through the Curie-Cancer partnership under the Institut Carnot label (a designation of excellence from the French government), and will attempt to unpick the basic biology of ovarian cancer – for which relatively few options outside surgery and chemotherapy are available – using the Institut Curie’s database of cryopreserved tumour samples.
These will be analysed to identify biological targets, giving researchers a better chance to understand the molecular alterations taking place in different forms of ovarian cancer – knowledge that should help in the design of more effective drugs.
Technology platforms developed by the Institut Curie make it possible to sequence molecules expressed by the tumour genome and compare the sequences of those obtained with non-tumour tissues from the same patients – all of which should throw light on the nature of the alterations.
Sanofi’s job will be to assess whether a tumour could then be inhibited or stimulated by drugs.
“We hope this type of long-term collaboration will ultimately open up perspectives for new therapeutic options for women with this disease,” said Debasish Roychowdhury, head of Sanofi Oncology.
“It will combine the accumulated knowledge on ovarian cancer gathered over many years by oncologists and biologists at the Institut Curie with the expertise of researchers from Sanofi’s research and product development teams,” Roychowdhury went on.
Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed late: the main risk factor is advancing age, although there is a hereditary element in 5-10% of cases.
In April Curie Cancer was among a raft of voluntary of charities and community groups sharing £3.5 million as part of a move to bring their voices into NHS decision-making.
Adam Hill
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