EU \'Vampire\' project to help drugs starve tumours of blood flow
Researchers will develop agents for imaging and treating solid cancers by targeting tumour blood vessels with active ingredients
A European Commission €1.5m grant will help pharmaceutical researchers discover antibodies that can eradicate a tumour by destroying its blood vessels.
The so-called VAMPIRE project (Vascular Antibody-Mediated Pharmaceutically Induced tumour Resection) is led by the University of Birmingham in the UK and SomantiX, a Dutch biotech company, based in Utrecht. Other participants include Swiss science and technology university ETH Zurich and Cancer Research UK.
SomantiX said researchers would develop agents for imaging and treating solid cancers by targeting tumour blood vessels with active ingredients directed towards 'a number of highly specific, proprietary targets on activated endothelial cells'.
The funding has come through a European Industrial Doctorate (EID), the 50th such award in two years. EU Education Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said: 'It is an excellent illustration of the added value that EU investment can bring for excellence, innovation and competitiveness by building bridges between academia, research and business.'
EU pharma companies wanting to apply for financing in these projects must collaborate with an academic partner from another country, enabling researchers to work in both university laboratories and business premises, working with company managers and senior academics.
These grants will continue to be paid until 2020 under the incoming €70bn Horizon 2020 research programme, from January 2014.