Two biomedical companies under the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation and a European leader in lung cancer research jointly announced that they will be entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), forging international collaborations between local talents and worldwide institutes via connection to corporates’ global network.
The partnership program includes two Science Park-based companies – the first being one of the research centres under the Health@InnoHK cluster funded by the Innovation and Technology Commission, and the other is a biotechnology company under the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation.
The 5-year strategic partnership will study the preclinical efficacy of proprietary anticancer compounds developed by the Lead Principal Investigator and Managing Director of one of the research centres under the Health@InnoHK cluster funded using the second HKSTP company’s breakthrough technologies, including, Onco-PDO™ (Patient-Derived Organoids Chemotherapeutic Test), the biotechnology company’s Humanized Mice Technologies, & Next Generation Sequencing (NGS).
The research conducted will set forth the pathway in an attempt to make advanced cancer a treatable chronic disease and improve patients’ lives. Dr Rafael Rosell, a renowned lung cancer expert based in Spain, will serve as clinical and scientific advisor of the project, collaborating on the study of molecular mechanisms of the anticancer compounds and advising on future clinical trials.
Along with the multilateral research framework, the biotechnology company will contribute, to eligible cancer patients, their Onco-PDO™ Chemosensitivity Test, an in vitro drug screening on patient-specific organoid as a therapeutic tool in personalized treatment, leading to more durable responses with fewer side effects from less responsive treatment. The contribution covers cancer types including lung cancer, breast cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer, pancreatic cancer, and cervical cancer.
The Managing Director of the research centres stated that he hopes for the successful growth of the centre that will lay a foundation for the establishment of the National Innovation Centre in Hong Kong, which would become the engine to power “the development of Science and Technology for the benefit of mankind”.
Meanwhile, the European specialist stated that centralising cancer biology research is essential through international collaboration to develop new therapies and optimise treatments, such as those based on chemotherapy. Interdisciplinary, international collaboration could harmonise the understanding of oncogenesis, a determinant factor in augmenting curability and cancer elimination, he added.
The Regional Head of the biotechnology company stated that as an enterprise actively participating in this research project, the firm hopes to fill the gap to transform the wealth of expertise into actionable solutions meeting unsolved medical challenges and strengthen the interaction between the public and private sector, making research more sustainable.
The Commissioner for Innovation and Technology said that the signing of the MoU on the tripartite collaboration between one of the InnoHK research laboratories, the biotech firm and the European specialist signifies an important step in building a partnership between Hong Kong’s InnoHK research laboratories and renowned international collaborators in the field of health-care and life sciences. She added that the government looks forward to the translation of the Laboratory’s R&D deliverables into new solutions and promising treatments in the foreseeable future.
The CEO of HKSTP stated that this high-level collaboration manifests the global potential of Hong Kong’s biomedical R&D ecosystem and realises InnoHK’s vision of building a world-class centre for translational research, while HKSTP will continue to support global talent and tech ventures on life-changing innovation missions to benefit society.
