DETERMINE trial recognised at Life Science industry awards

11 Apr 2023

The multi-drug precision medicine trial for adults, teenagers and children with rare cancers is helping to find treatments for rare cancers.

A clinical trial project led by The University of Manchester has scooped the Bionow Healthcare Project of the Year Award for their innovative multi-drug pan-cancer platform trial that is helping to find new treatments for rare cancers.

DETERMINE* is a multi-drug precision medicine trial for adults, teenagers and children with rare cancers, sponsored and managed by Cancer Research UK’s Centre for Drug Development with commercial partners Roche and Novartis and led by the research team here in Manchester. Also collaborating on the project are researchers from the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, The University of Birmingham, and the Christie NHS Foundation Trust with contribution from the adult and paediatric Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres (ECMC) network.

Rare cancers make up 22 out of every 100 (22%) cancers that are diagnosed globally each year, more than any single type of cancer. If all rare cancers were defined as a single type, they would top the list of the most prevalent cancers worldwide, above lung, breast and colorectal cancer.

The DETERMINE trial seeks to find out if existing licensed drugs - those that are already prescribed by doctors for more common types of cancer - could also benefit patients with rare cancer types that the drug isn’t currently licensed for.

If successful, the trial will provide new treatments for those who have run out of options and improve the survival for people with rare types of cancer.

Commenting on the win, Dr Matthew Krebs, Chief Investigator for the DETERMINE trial at The University of Manchester and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust said:

“We are delighted that DETERMINE has been recognised for its high-impact potential in improving patient outcomes in rare cancer. Patients with rare cancer often have few treatment options available and it’s vitally important we increase our research efforts for these patients. With the potential to change outcomes for adults, teenagers and children with rare cancers, this trial will be ground-breaking for a patient population who often feel neglected by current cancer research.”

Bionow provides a platform for businesses to engage with the life sciences community, supporting business growth and innovation within the sector. The annual Bionow Awards celebrate scientific excellence within the life sciences industry across 13 categories/

The DETERMINE team was represented by colleagues from the University, Novartis, Roche, CRUK and The Christie who were among 350 guests from across the life sciences community, held this year at the Concorde Hangar at Manchester Airport.

*DETERMINE: Determining Extended Therapeutic indications for Existing drugs in Rare Molecularly-defined Indications using a National Evaluation platform trial

Find out more: cruk.org/determine