By Clinical Informatics News Staff

November 15, 2016 | Roche launched the global cancer immunotherapy Centers of Research Excellence (imCORE) Network today. The network brings together many of the world’s leading scientific and clinical experts in cancer immunotherapy from 21 academic research institutions to collaborate in investigating the most promising new treatment approaches. The goal is to rapidly initiate pre-clinical and clinical research based on the latest scientific discoveries and to aggregate and share data to accelerate the search for cures for people with cancer. 

The imCORE Network will focus on identifying approaches to expand the number of people who benefit from cancer immunotherapy by exploring new ways to activate a person’s immune system to fight their cancer, the company said in a press release this morning. Researchers will work with scientists from Roche and Genentech to develop potential cures for people with cancer.

“We believe the fastest way to advance progress against cancer is through collaboration, and consistent with our values, the goal of imCORE is to facilitate access to new technologies and emerging data among the top researchers around the world,” said Sandra Horning, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Product Development at Roche in the press release. “imCORE represents our most recent commitment to collaborate with the global cancer community to further understand the biology and immunology of cancer and to develop new treatments that may one day offer a cure for people with cancer.’’

Roche will invest up to 100 million Swiss Francs (almost $100 million) to support basic and clinical research collaborations related to cancer immunotherapy. This investment is incremental to Roche’s on-going research and development of investigational medicines and treatment approaches in the field of cancer immunotherapy.