Imagine if doctors could tell if a few cancer cells are still hiding in your body after surgery just by taking a blood sample. Right now, most patients get the same harsh chemotherapy regardless of whether they actually need it. This project uses a 'liquid biopsy' to find these hidden cells and tailor the treatment to each person's specific genetic makeup.
Current colon cancer treatment uses a 'one-fits-all' chemotherapy approach, leading to significant over-treatment or under-treatment because doctors cannot detect micro-metastatic residual disease using standard imaging.
A clinical trial protocol and a ctDNA assay to detect residual disease, paired with a genomic characterization tool to personalize therapy.
If you are a diagnostics company dealing with low adoption of post-surgical monitoring — this project developed a ctDNA assay that identifies micro-metastatic residual disease. This allows for a shift from generic monitoring to precision diagnostics for stage II and III colon cancer.
If you are a pharma company dealing with inefficient patient stratification in clinical trials — this project developed a genomic landscape characterization method. This ensures targeted therapies are given only to ctDNA-positive patients, maximizing the odds of cure.
If you are a clinic owner dealing with high costs of unnecessary chemotherapy — this project developed a 'Wait&See' strategy for ctDNA-negative patients. This reduces waste and improves patient quality of life by avoiding over-treatment.
Based on available project data, specific pricing is not mentioned, but the project includes a health-economics evaluation to measure cost-effectiveness.
The project is currently being tested across 26 clinical sites in 5 countries, suggesting a scalable clinical network model.
Based on available project data, specific IP or licensing terms are not provided; however, the consortium includes 2 industry partners and 2 SMEs.
The study protocol has been approved by regulatory and ethical authorities via the Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS) in Italy, Spain, and Germany.
The project runs from 2023-07-01 to 2028-06-30, with patient recruitment already active as of December 2024.
The consortium is well-balanced for translation, consisting of 9 partners across 5 countries. With an industry ratio of 22% (including 2 SMEs and 2 larger industry players) alongside 3 universities and 2 research institutes, the project has the necessary mix of academic rigor and commercial viability to move from trial to market.
Contact IFOM-Istituto Fondazione di Oncologia Molecolare ETS in Italy
Contact us to explore licensing opportunities for the ctDNA assay and genomic profiling protocols.
