Objective
Cancer is rapidly becoming the most frequent cause of death in EU. Though enormously expensive (several billions EUR/year), currently available anti-cancer therapies are major causes of chronic diseases. Adoptive immunotherapy with T cells genetically modified with a tumour-reactive chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) is an innovative therapeutic concept, promising to eradicate cancer without causing secondary chronic diseases. This approach is already at an advanced stage of development in the US, but struggles in the EU, due to a number of constrains that will be specifically tackled by this Project. The ultimate goal of EURE-CART is to bring EU at the forefront CAR T-cell immunotherapy. In this Project, we will extend the applicability of CAR T-cell immunotherapy to incurable tumours that have never been tackled with this approach. The EURE-CART Consortium is composed of 6 academic centres, 2 SMEs and 1 large enterprise from 6 EU countries, clearly representing excellences in their respective fields. EURE-CART will bring together clinical experts in oncology, and pioneers and leaders in the field of cell and gene therapy for starting the conduction of a first-in-man Phase I/II clinical trial. To be successful, EURE-CART proposes the early involvement of National regulatory authorities for accelerating the approval of CAR T-cell immunotherapy, as well as the centralisation of its production by the AGC Biologics (formerly Molmed SpA), which is uniquely endowed in the EU with the knowhow and experience necessary to meet this ambitious objective, as demonstrated by its unparalleled track record. The main expected impact of EURE-CART is the establishment of CAR T-cell therapy as the ultimate personalised therapy, capable of defeating chronic diseases, and to create secure new jobs in the EU through the instalment of an unprecedented alliance between academia, industry and regulatory bodies.
Fields of science
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugs
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologyleukemia
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologyskin cancersquamous cell carcinoma
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineimmunologyimmunotherapy
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologygenetic engineeringgene therapy
Programme(s)
Call for proposal
H2020-SC1-2016-RTD
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
20091 Bresso Mi
Italy
Participants (9)
20132 Milano
97080 Wurzburg
00165 Roma
08041 Barcelona
708 52 Ostrava Poruba
00161 Roma
50226 Frechen
75013 Paris
80333 Munchen