Cancer research collaboration launched

Australia’s reputation for excellence in cancer research has been strengthened with the launch of the Peter MacCallum Pfizer Translational Oncology Research Collaborative Hub (TORCH) at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

Pfizer Australia has committed $15 million funding to support medical research and cancer drug development at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre over the next three years.

The collaboration will integrate three key activities to the future of cancer research: molecular imaging, cancer genomics and high quality clinical trial capabilities. The expected outcome will be new and improved treatments for cancer patients and the firming of Australia’s role as an international leader in cancer research.

“The development of new cancer treatments has undergone a dramatic change,” said Craig Bennett, CEO of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

“The emphasis of research has shifted towards personalising medicine — using information and data from a patient’s genotype to tailor drugs specifically to a patient’s genetic profile. This is designed to work far more efficiently and has the potential to reduce side effects, a groundbreaking concept in the treatment of cancer.”

The launch of TORCH marks a significant expansion of the longstanding relationship between Pfizer Australia and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. In the last year alone, the two organisations have collaborated on numerous pre-clinical programs and three Phase I clinical trials, with a fourth to commence later this year.

“This translational research facility will help satisfy Pfizer’s pre-clinical oncology imaging needs, create a dedicated genomics facility for the development of predictive markers of response to novel cancer therapeutics and secure dedicated clinical trials capabilities,” said Dr Daniel Grant, head of Strategic Alliances for Pfizer Australia.

This new collaboration expands on the existing Pfizer program which combines PET — an imaging technique to measure important body functions, such as blood flow, oxygen use and sugar metabolism to detect cancer in the body — with biomarkers used to predict which patients will benefit most from new cancer treatments.

“The existing collaboration with the Peter MacCallum is one of the best examples of a truly translational oncology alliance in Australia — where the same investigators who are involved in our preclinical research take the lead in our clinical trials with the same compounds and effectively interact with our discovery and clinical teams," said Grant.