FINALISTS SELECTED FOR THE CANCER RESEARCH HORIZONS INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARDS

Weve announced the shortlist for the inaugural Cancer Research Horizons Innovation and Entrepreneurship Awards. Launched to shine a spotlight on the people driving innovative and enterprising efforts in the UKs dynamic oncology development ecosystem, the winners also receive funding to support their career, early stage startup project or company, or collaboration.

Cancer Research Horizons received nearly 100 high-quality nominations following an open call. And the judging panels shortlisted selection is:

Early-career Entrepreneur of the Year
Ana Gomes, Anjui Wu, Ashwin Nandakumar, Ben Woodington, Dario Bressan, Matt De Vries, Mireia Crispin, Stephanie Mack, Susanti Susanti

Woman Entrepreneur of the Year
Bakul Gupta, Claire Lewis, Ella Mi, Hannah Sore, Ishani Malhotra, Maya Thanou, Penny Lovat

New Startup of the Year
Adendra Therapeutics Ltd, Alethiomics Ltd, Elyx Ltd, Infinitopes, Neobe Therapeutics

Startup Achievement of the Year
Achilles Therapeutics UK, Artios, Cyted, Faeth Therapeutics, Storm Therapeutics Ltd

Further, Faster, Together (Industry-Academia Collaboration)
Barts Cancer Institute, Beatson Institute Glasgow, Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials, iDx Lung Collaboration, Newcastle University Astex Pharmaceuticals

The shortlisted nominees are invited to attend the awards ceremony taking place at the Royal Society, London on 6 December. Finalists are in contention to win between 5000 to 15,000 for their noteworthy contributions to the field of oncology.

NEW CLINICAL TRIAL EXPLORING WHETHER EXISTING ONCOLOGY THERAPIES COULD ALSO BENEFIT PATIENTS WITH RARE CANCER TYPES

We are excited to announce the opening of the DETERMINE trial, a multi-drug, precision medicine clinical trial platform for people with rare cancers. Few, if any, treatment options are available to people suffering from a rare cancer. Yet collectively they comprise about 24% of all new cancer diagnosed in a year. By studying tailored therapeutic options DETERMINE will help to address this unmet clinical need.

The trial is sponsored by our Centre for Drug Development and managed in collaboration with the University of Manchester. Recruiting both paediatric and adult patients with any rare cancer type, DETERMINE will attempt to match their genomic aberrations with existing targeted therapeutics provided through collaboration with pharmaceutical companies. For example, Roche is providing seven drugs from its oncology portfolio.

The first trial site has already opened at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust. Other sites at the University of Glasgow, the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, and sites across our adult and paediatric Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres network will follow.