Leiden-based VitroScan, a biotech company, announced that it has received €1.9M from Biotech Booster to deliver chemotherapy response prediction for ovarian cancer patients.
Biotech Booster’s funding will help the Dutch company to use its knowledge and research, along with partnerships with ovarian cancer experts from Leiden University Medical Centre and Radboud University Medical Centre.
This funding will assist in preparing for clinical use and ensuring the service meets quality and regulatory standards for patients.
Biotech Booster: Commercialising biotechnology research
Established in 2022 under Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Biotech Booster is a Dutch national program to stimulate the commercialisation of biotechnology research from academia and small industry.
The program runs from 2022 – 2031 and is financed by the Dutch government’s National Growth Fund with a subsidy of ~ € 250M, to which co-financing from partners will be added.
In December 2023, Biotech Booster BV and the Biotech Booster Foundation were established.
The program connects researchers with the biotech industry to quickly turn discoveries into practical applications. It provides funding, mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs, and access to a strong network of scientists.
Biotech Booster is organised into five clusters that cover the entire field of biotechnology:
- Industrial Biotechnology & Production
- Agriculture & Food
- ATMPs, Biopharmaceuticals & Associated Enabling Technologies
- Diagnostics & Services
- Vaccines, Small Molecules, Discovery & Development Platforms
Biotech Booster works closely with other National Growth Fund programs, such as Oncode Accelerator and RegMedXB.
VitroScan: Predictive tumour testing service
Based out of Leiden Bio Science Park, VitroScan has developed ChemoPredict, a predictive tumour testing service for ovarian cancer patients.
The platform identifies chemotherapy-resistant versus chemotherapy-sensitive patients, demonstrating its capability to select effective and cost-efficient treatment strategies for individual patients.
VitroScan’s clinical trial program is performed in collaboration with expert clinicians from leading oncology centres. In these trials, patient specific ex vivo tumour sensitivity to chemo-, targeted, or immunotherapy is correlated to clinical outcomes.
Although treatments are available, 30 per cent of patients have a tumour that does not respond to the standard primary therapy of carboplatin + paclitaxel and move on to an advanced stage.
In total, about 70 per cent of ovarian cancer patients relapse within three years of treatment and are then treated with a range of second and third-line therapies.
The high-rate disease progression, variable treatment success, large economic burden, as well as the few predictive biomarkers for this tumour type make ovarian cancer a prime candidate for developing reliable predictive tumour testing.
Knowledge of tumour sensitivity will allow both doctors and patients to make better-informed treatment decisions and avoid unnecessary side effects and loss of quality of life. It will also open up avenues for biopharmaceutical testing of potential new treatments.
A couple of months back, the company announced a partnership with Imunotx to start its first ex vivo clinical trial with a patient for Imuno’s peptide MHC targeting T cell engagers!
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