NEW YORK – Cure51 on Thursday said it has partnered with Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) to identify biomarkers of exceptional survival in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Cure51 will contribute clinical data and sequencing of tumor samples from more than 50 pancreatic cancer cases for multimodal analysis by AP-HP oncologists. Cure51 uses the 10x Genomics' Visum HD platform to conduct single-cell resolution transcriptomic spatial gene expression analysis of tumors. Five AP-HP hospitals — La Pitié Salpêtrière, Paul Brousse, Beaujon, Henri Mondor, and Saint-Antoine — will participate in the project.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but Cure51 said that its standard revenue-sharing model for partner hospitals applies.
About 16,000 patients were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in France in 2023, and 495,000 worldwide. The five-year survival rate for metastatic pancreatic cancer is 3 percent, and because it is usually detected at a late stage, only 15 percent to 20 percent qualify for surgery, the standard treatment. Other treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation, may slow progression, but are not curative.
The collaboration "marks a significant step forward in the fight against pancreatic cancer," Louis De Mestier, an oncologist at Beaujon Hospital, said in a statement. "By combining clinical data with medical expertise, we aim to better understand resistance mechanisms and significantly improve patient survival, while exponentially accelerating the speed of our research."
Paris-based Cure51 and AP-HP hope to extend the partnership in the future to other treatment-resistant cancers such as glioblastoma and small cell lung cancer.
Cure51 has an ongoing study, dubbed Rosalind, in which it is exploring the mechanisms of extended survival among European patients with these cancers. In November 2024, it extended the study to partnerships with Cambridge University Hospitals and seven other UK-based cancer institutions. The firm's mission is supported by a €15 million ($16.3 million) seed financing it raised in in March 2024.