R&D offer: Translational research

Researchers and physicians at Institut Curie join forces to develop projects with clinical applications, with the aim of improving care for cancer patients. Institut Curie welcomes partnerships with biotech and biopharma companies for clinical and translational research.

By evaluating and validating diagnostic, prognostic and patient support tools, as well as developing biomedical devices and therapeutic approaches, Institut Curie teams have access to cutting-edge skills and methodologies to facilitate the conduct of high-quality research for the benefit of patients.

Translational research

In 2003, Institut Curie set up a Translational Research Department to promote and facilitate translational research.

This department provides clinicians and researchers with the human and technological resources they need to develop application-oriented projects aimed at improving the care of cancer patients: evaluation and validation of diagnostic, prognostic and patient-assistance tools; development of biomedical devices or therapeutic approaches derived from fundamental research.

A wide range of projects are carried out with the help of the department: in-house projects involving clinicians and researchers from the Institute, but also collaborative projects with other academic institutions or pharmaceutical/biotech companies. Some projects may also aim to provide expertise to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, or to create proofs of concept for licenses and/or start-ups.

The expertise of the Translational Research department's teams and platforms enables it to support the maturation of translational research projects (in vivo proof of concept, target/biomarker identification and validation, ancillary biological studies coupled with clinical trials, etc.) at Institut Curie, alone or in collaboration with other academic teams or industrial partners.

Clinical research

Clinical development has always been a major activity at Institut Curie:

• Over 10% of Institut Curie patients are included in a clinical trial.
• Every year, nearly 200 large-scale multiple trials are underway, 40 of which are Phase 1 studies.
• The priority is the early development of new treatments for all types of cancer (breast, prostate, ovarian, ocular, pediatric, etc.).

To achieve this, Institut Curie relies on innovative approaches and methods for analyzing clinical data.

For all clinical developments carried out by Institut Curie, the teams :

• Initiate and evaluate strategies to reduce treatment side effects, spare healthy tissue and preserve organs wherever possible.
• Tailor treatments to the characteristics of each tumor and each patient.
• Identify new pharmacological targets, develop and evaluate targeted drugs.
• Develop research into quality of life and supportive care.
   

Ancillary studies to clinical trials

Ancillary studies make use of the clinical data, samples and analytical results collected during a primary clinical trial, and enable the high-value data collected to be exploited to answer other highly pressing questions, and to enrich these data with additional measures. They can identify features of individual immune responses that contribute to failure or success, elucidate mechanisms of response to treatment, or identify biomarkers associated with positive outcomes.
Ancillary studies offer these benefits in a cost-effective way, as the bulk of the study data has already been collected and, in general, the main study has already shown a result that merits further investigation.
We encourage our partners to consider ancillary studies for ongoing clinical trials.