19-02-2020
The object of The ProTarget project is to test target specific cancer medicaments on other types of cancer. The project is anchored in a long-standing national cooperation between the Danish experimental cancer treatment units.
The project receives funding of 1.5 m. DKK from the Danish Cancer Society Knæk Cancer fund New Medicine – collection of experiences from clinical practice.One of the objectives of the call is to map how cancer medicine is distributed and given in different treatment protocols/combinations for different patient groups and microbiological profiles. Thus, this exact area is to be examined with project ProTarget.
ProTarget will examine Danish patients with advanced cancer for genetic changes, to which medicaments already exist, but are approved for another diagnosis. Thus, the project unifies and coordinates all Danish off-label treatments where there a commercial cancer medicament is given on the basis of genomic tests.
Valuable data on medical effects and resistance mechanisms across cancer diseases
Besides contributing to similar international initiatives, ProTarget also contributes with unique data on whole-genome sequencing of all patients before and after targeted medicament treatment. This is currently not seen elsewhere in Denmark to such an extent and has the potential of providing important knowledge in regards to why a medicament is effective in some patient groups, and especially, why not in other patient groups. Simultaneously, patient reported data (PRO) is collected and includes i.a. adverse effects and late complications.
The project is anchored in a close and long-standing national cooperation between the experimental cancer treatment units and the national collaboration on bioinformatics and genome sequencing under the Danish National Genome Centres two centres of whole-genome sequencing; Centre for Genomic Medicine at Rigshospitalet and Department of Molecular Medicine at Aarhus University Hospital.