Sanofi and MD Anderson Cancer Center Forge Strategic Alliance to Accelerate Development of Innovative Oncology Therapies

Sanofi and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Announce Five-Year Strategic Collaboration to Accelerate Development of Investigational Cancer TherapiesSanofi and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center today announced a five-year strategic collaboration to accelerate the development of investigational treatments for cancer patients, including targeted therapies and immunotherapies. This alliance will combine MD Anderson’s clinical trial infrastructure with Sanofi’s pipeline of experimental therapies to lead biomarker-driven clinical research aimed at better understanding the mechanisms of action of novel cancer drugs.

“Our goal is to improve outcomes for patients with a range of refractory cancers, and the best way to achieve this is through a deep understanding of how investigational new drugs work,” said Dr. Peter Adamson, Global Head of Oncology and Pediatric Innovation Development at Sanofi. “This alliance leverages MD Anderson Cancer Center’s flexible strategies for conducting early-phase clinical trials, along with its laboratory capabilities and extensive scientific expertise. This will enable us to make decisions more rapidly and help us more accurately identify potential new combinations and indications. This will save valuable time and help us expand the range of patients who may benefit from our therapies.”

MD Anderson Cancer Center manages one of the largest oncology clinical trial programs in the United States, with robust platforms for biospecimen collection, molecular and immune profiling, and data analytics. This infrastructure enables comprehensive analysis of tumor samples collected before, during, and after treatment, thereby generating valuable insights, streamlining patient screening, and accelerating the identification of novel therapeutic combinations and indications.

"Clinical trials not only help us advance life-saving new treatments for patients in need, but also provide valuable insights into which therapies may be more effective for which patients," said Dr. Funda Meric-Bernstam, Chair of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics at MD Anderson Cancer Center. "We are delighted to collaborate with Sanofi to accelerate the development of its pipeline of innovative cancer therapies."

The new alliance will also support investigations into additional indications and combination therapies for research projects already in clinical trials. Scientists from Sanofi and MD Anderson Cancer Center will collaborate on experimental design, applying a core set of biomarkers and assays. The joint initiatives will also apply novel candidate drugs developed by Sanofi to existing tumor samples to generate further data on their efficacy across different disease stages.

New findings, along with large-scale molecular and phenotypic datasets, will be applied to the design of new translational studies for specific Sanofi investigational molecules and guide the selection of indications. The collaboration is expected to launch its first projects in the summer of 2020.

References:

[1] Sanofi and MD Anderson announce strategic collaboration to accelerate oncology research and development. Retrieved July 14, 2020, fromhttps://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sanofi-and-md-anderson-announce-strategic-collaboration-to-accelerate-oncology-research-and-development-301092433.html

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