Imagine if instead of a scary, invasive bone marrow biopsy that requires putting a child to sleep, doctors could just take a small blood sample. This project creates a high-tech blood test that hunts for tiny scraps of cancer DNA to spot if the disease is coming back. It's like having a smoke detector for cancer that alerts doctors long before a fire is visible on a scan.
Current neuroblastoma monitoring relies on invasive bone marrow tests and expensive imaging that require anesthesia. This limits the frequency of monitoring and causes significant stress for pediatric patients and families.
A liquid biopsy diagnostic process for detecting tumor DNA/RNA in blood and a digital decision support tool for oncologists.
If you are a diagnostics lab dealing with the high cost and invasiveness of bone marrow tests — this project developed a liquid biopsy analysis that detects tumor markers in peripheral blood. This allows for more frequent sampling and earlier detection of relapse. It transforms a complex procedure into a scalable blood test.
If you are a software company dealing with the difficulty of interpreting complex genomic data for oncologists — this project developed a digital decision support tool. This tool helps doctors use liquid biopsy results to make better treatment choices. It integrates patient-reported outcomes to track quality of life.
If you are a pharma company dealing with therapy-resistant relapsed neuroblastoma — this project developed a method to identify the mutational spectrum of recurring tumors. This provides a way to find new druggable targets. It enables a more personalized medicine approach for the 15% of childhood cancer deaths caused by high-risk neuroblastoma.
Based on available project data, the project notes that current imaging and bone marrow tests are costly, but specific pricing for the new liquid biopsy is not provided.
Yes, the project aims to use the neuroblastoma monitoring system as a blueprint for other pediatric cancers.
Based on available project data, specific IP or licensing details are not mentioned in the project summary.
The project is running a pragmatic randomized clinical trial with 150 patients across 11 countries to establish the method as a standard-of-care.
The project period is from 2024-01-01 to 2028-12-31, suggesting the clinical validation phase concludes by the end of 2028.
The consortium is heavily weighted toward clinical and academic expertise, featuring 25 partners including 7 universities and 11 research institutions across 11 countries. While the industry ratio is low at 4% (only 1 industry partner and 3 SMEs), the breadth of the network suggests strong clinical validation and access to a diverse patient pool, which is critical for medical device and diagnostic adoption.
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