Institut Curie & Janssen sign a strategic framework agreement to accelerate innovation in oncology

We are delighted with the signing of this major framework agreement with Janssen France, which is part of our ongoing commitment to collaborate and develop innovation in oncology. Through this collective work, which will bring together the complementary expertise of the teams of the hospital complex and the research center, which are the very essence of Institut Curie, we will take another step towards concrete and innovative therapeutic solutions for patients. In addition, in an increasingly competitive global environment, this agreement reinforces France's influence and attractiveness in medical research.

say Professor Steven Le Gouill, Director of Institut Curie’s Hospital Complex, and Professor Alain Puisieux, Director of Institut Curie’s Research Center.

A long-term strategy for innovation in oncology

The signing of this framework agreement formalizes a strategy for long-term collaboration in research and development, clinical research and improved patient care. Two research projects covering several clinical trials investigating promising investigational therapies in lymphoma and solid tumors are currently being conducted by a multidisciplinary team at Institut Curie, in collaboration with Janssen data scientists and oncology researchers.

 The agreement is based on two main objectives:

• Strengthen existing multi-disease research and clinical collaborations by leveraging the power of data science, AI, and new technologies such as single cell sequencing.
• Frame discussions around new research collaborations and their future operational implementation in specific areas of common interest: in immuno-oncology, care pathway support, radiation therapy, or data and precision medicine.

The signing of the framework agreement will enable Institut Curie and Janssen France to identify and build a portfolio of new collaborative projects based on privileged access to the expertise of each.

Launch of a research collaboration to develop advanced immunotherapies for solid tumors

Institut Curie recently launched a collaboration with Janssen Biotech, Inc (Janssen), supported by Johnson & Johnson Innovation. The purpose of this collaboration is an exploratory research project to improve the treatment of solid tumors. The two-year project will aim to foster the identification of new biomarkers and therapeutic targets by applying novel data science approaches to multimodal data.  The data will span new high-resolution platforms - such as single-cell sequencing - with comprehensive, curated, high-quality patient records. The goal is to develop new, more effective immunotherapies.

Despite the many therapeutic advances of recent years, many cancers still remain associated with a poor prognosis. It is therefore more necessary than ever to develop new, more effective therapeutic approaches. The ambition of this project is to work with Janssen to accelerate the development of innovative treatments to fight these cancers.

explain Dr. Manuel Rodrigues, medical oncologist and researcher at Institut Curie, and Sergio Roman-Roman, head of Institut Curie's Translational Research Department, principal investigators of the project.

In collaboration with Janssen, Institut Curie teams will examine and characterize a large cohort of tumor samples from the Biological Resource Center of Institut Curie's Department of Tumor Biology and from a clinical study coordinated at Institut Curie.

This cross-disciplinary project will draw on the wealth of expertise at Institut Curie, bringing together teams from the research center and the hospital complex, as well as state-of-the-art technological platforms (proteomic mass spectrometry, high-throughput DNA sequencing and cytometry).

It will also rely on innovative analysis techniques based on data science, developed by scientists from Janssen and Institut Curie. These techniques enable the study of cancer and associated immune cells at the single cell level.

Signing a framework agreement of this magnitude with Janssen is of strategic importance for Institut Curie, which has held the Carnot label of excellence for ten years now. On the one hand, this formalization will contribute to the durability and structuring of our already established relationships with Janssen teams in the context of ongoing collaborations. But above all, this signature will accelerate the initiation of ambitious research projects to improve our understanding of cancers and develop tomorrow's therapeutic innovations together.

adds Cécile Campagne, Director of Institut Curie’s Technology Transfer Office and Deputy Director of Carnot Curie Cancer.