Fostering on MATWIN's experience in supporting oncology innovation, and in line with the Paris Saclay Cancer Cluster’s (PSCC) aim to become the European oncology cluster of excellence with the support of France 2030, MATWIN and the PSCC have decided to combine their strengths and networks to serve a national ambition: to change the pace of innovation in the fight against cancer to make it more predictive, precise and efficient.
This collaboration aims to set up joint support programs to provide the most promising European researchers and entrepreneurs with access to the best expertise, tools and services in the field.
"MATWIN was visionary fourteen years ago when launching the first French initiative to bring together research and industry ecosystems around innovation in the fight against cancer. In the context of the ongoing structuring of the Paris Saclay Cancer Cluster, of which Gustave Roussy is one of the five founders, MATWIN will be an essential ally!” indicates Professor Fabrice Barlesi, Gustave Roussy CEO and MATWIN President.
"Unicancer is already a committed PSCC partner. We are therefore delighted that our subsidiary MATWIN can be associated with the development of this European oncocluster and that the two organisations will mutually benefit from their obvious complementarity to better serve the patients’ interests", explains Professor Jean-Yves Blay, President of Unicancer.
Professor Eric Vivier, President of the PSCC, concludes: "France has very strong assets to become a leader in the fight against cancer. The objective of the PSCC is to become a world-class cluster of excellence like the one in Kendall Square in Boston to increase the industrial capacity in the field of oncology in France. We are thus delighted to benefit from MATWIN's experience and network”.
As a first concrete action of this collaboration, the PSCC has just joined the 13 members of the OncoSTART consortium, created and coordinated by MATWIN. This national consortium, composed of committed organisations devoted to oncology in France, aims to foster entrepreneurial innovation in the fight against cancer. As part of its training program, the consortium will organize the first OncoSTART Summer School dedicated to entrepreneurship in oncology, which will take place in Paris from September 18 to 22.
Cancer remains a major global health issue with a sharp increase in cancer cases due to the ageing of the world's population, improved diagnosis and changes in our lifestyles. However, mortality continues to fall*,**: for all cancers combined, the 5-year survival rate was 30% in 1970, 50% in 2000 and should reach nearly 80% in 2030. This improvement is due to better management of these cancers, partly due to the emergence of innovations, whether therapeutic or diagnostic. The aim of this partnership is therefore to create the optimal conditions to allow these innovations to take place, as quickly as possible.
Sources:
* Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries, F. Bray et al., Cancer J. Clin., Dec 2018
** Cancer Today (data visualization tools), IARC, J. Ferlay et al; https://gco.iarc.fr/today
__________________________________
About MATWIN:
As a Unicancer subsidiary, the federation gathering the 18 French Comprehensive Cancer Centres, MATWIN is a French open-innovation platform fully dedicated to oncology.
For more than 14 years, the platform has offered various actions (expertise, accelerator programme, events, etc.) aiming at accelerating the development of innovative projects dedicated to the fight against cancer. These actions are based on a long-standing partnership with about fifteen international laboratories keen to develop partnerships in this field (Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, MSD, Nanostring Technologies, Novartis, Pierre Fabre, Pfizer, Roche and Sanofi).
Among other actions, MATWIN is organising on May 11-12 in Bordeaux the 8th edition of MEET2WIN European Oncology Partnering Convention, which will unite more than 300 European attendees interested in cancer innovation and will offer more than 1,000 face-to-face meetings to optimise collaborations within the ecosystem(large companies, startuppers, researchers, clinicians, investors, support structures, patient associations, etc.).
More on: https://matwin.fr/en/home/
About Paris Saclay Cancer Cluster (PSCC):
Founded in February 2022 by Gustave-Roussy, Sanofi, Inserm, the Paris Polytechnic Institute and the University of Paris Saclay, the Paris Saclay Cancer Cluster (PSCC) is the first winner of the "Biocluster" call launched by Emmanuel Macron as part of France 2030. The PSCC has the support of more than 80 startups, biotechs and large pharmaceutical groups and has already been joined by Unicancer, the Institut Curie, AP-HP and Medicen.
The biocluster's mission is to orchestrate strong interactions between researchers, patient associations, healthcare professionals, startups, SMEs, big pharmaceutical companies and investors within a dynamic, integrated and virtuous ecosystem, anchored in Villejuif. Its objective is to accelerate the development of new cancer treatments, medical devices and diagnostic solutions in France. The PSCC will support industrial projects at different levels of maturity and facilitate the connection of these projects with the experts, platforms and resources they need.
As a world-class cluster, the PSCC aims to position France among the world leaders in turning science into value for patients and society as a whole.
____________________________________________________________________
Contacts:
Paris-Saclay Cancer Cluster contact@parissaclaycancercluster.org Tél : + 33 6 10 54 36 72
MATWIN / OncoSTART
contact@matwin.fr
Tél : + 33 5 35 54 19 36