Dana-Farber Cancer Institute announces lung cancer research collaboration

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Diichi Sankyo Company, Limited (hereafter, Daiichi Sankyo) today announced a preclinical research collaboration focused on lung cancer.

A team of scientists led by Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD, director of the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology, Dana-Farber; scientific director of the Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science; and, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School will partner with Daiichi Sankyo on the development of a translational pharmacology package with unique experimental animal and patient derived xenograft models that were established at Dana-Farber. The collaboration will leverage the translational medicine expertise of the Belfer Center.

“We are excited to enter into this unique partnership with Daiichi Sankyo,” said Dr. Jänne. “Working together we can accelerate the development of new therapeutic strategies for patients with lung cancer.”

“Despite several recent significant advances in the treatment of lung cancer with EGFR mutations, many patients still die of this disease, hence our urgency and obligation to pursue swiftly great science,” said Antoine Yver, MD, MSc, Executive Vice President and Global Head, Oncology Research and Development, Daiichi Sankyo. “By partnering with scientists at Dana-Farber, we are looking to better understand drivers of disease as well as initial and secondary resistance to established targeted treatments with the ultimate goal of identifying a potential new treatment for patients with lung cancer.”