March 31, 2004
Dana-Farber launches Center for Applied Cancer Science to expedite cancer drug discovery and development
"The challenges of cancer are formidable," says DePinho. "But we believe that we have finally reached a critical threshold of knowledge and technologies that will enable us to identify the genetic Achilles' heel of cancer and convert these molecular discoveries into novel effective cancer medicines in a more directed and efficient manner," explains DePinho.
Historically, academic-based cancer centers and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have maintained distinct goals, activities, and capabilities. While academic cancer centers excel at basic research and clinical trials, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies possess enormous capability to identify and synthesize drugs.
The new Dana-Farber center will provide an important first step toward integrating and building on these strengths by taking full advantage of the enormous biological and discovery talents of academia, exploiting the predictive value of engineered preclinical models, and utilizing its vast clinical materials to select the right drugs and patients for specific treatments. The new center's administrative structure will facilitate more effective collaboration with pharmaceutical and biotechnology commercial partners.
"The Center for Applied Cancer Science represents a new academic construct that, in addition to deciphering cancer's complexity and discovering new therapeutic leads, has an unprecedented opportunity to change the practice of how drugs are discovered and developed," says DePinho.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a principal teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School and is among the leading cancer research and care centers in the United States. It is a founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), designated a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute.
