Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Wallonia Provides €9.1M to OncoDNA for Precision Cancer Medicine Projects

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Belgian cancer diagnostics company OncoDNA said today that it has launched two new precision cancer medicine projects, the budgets for which total €16 million ($17.2 million) and are being supported in part by the Belgian Walloon Region.

The aim of the first project, called Moncodaneum, is to make OncoDNA's OncoKDM software-as-a-service tool available to various cancer treatment centers worldwide to support the integration of cancer-related DNA sequencing data, tumor marker analysis, and imaging.

The Belgian government has contributed 5.2 million toward the project, which has a total budget of 10 million, OncoDNA said. Several pilot projects for implementing OncoKDM are underway.

OncoDNA announced in October that SOLTI, a Barcelona, Spain-based clinical research organization, is using OncoKDM as part of its breast cancer screening research program.

OncoDNA's second project is called Arche. The company plans to commence three prospective studies where the firm will use its OncoDeep and OncoTrace tools to analyze solid and liquid samples from more than 1,200 patients with lung, bladder, or esophageal cancer.

The company said the project should help it to refine its predictive tools, eventually enabling clinicians to select appropriate therapies.

The Belgian government has contributed €3.9 million toward the project, which has a total budget of €6 million.

Last year OncoDNA launched OncoTrace, a blood-based, 411-gene, next-generation sequencing assay for monitoring mutations in circulating tumor DNA.

OncoDeep is OncoDNA's testing service for solid tumor analysis, which combines next-generation sequencing, fluorescence in situ hybridization, methylation, and translocation analysis. OncoDNA raised €7.7 million in a private placement in September to support OncoDeep, along with OncoTrace and its OncoKDM offering.

The Scan

Positive Framing of Genetic Studies Can Spark Mistrust Among Underrepresented Groups

Researchers in Human Genetics and Genomics Advances report that how researchers describe genomic studies may alienate potential participants.

Small Study of Gene Editing to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

In a Novartis-sponsored study in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that a CRISPR-Cas9-based treatment targeting promoters of genes encoding fetal hemoglobin could reduce disease symptoms.

Gut Microbiome Changes Appear in Infants Before They Develop Eczema, Study Finds

Researchers report in mSystems that infants experienced an enrichment in Clostridium sensu stricto 1 and Finegoldia and a depletion of Bacteroides before developing eczema.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Specificity Enhanced With Stem Cell Editing

A study in Nature suggests epitope editing in donor stem cells prior to bone marrow transplants can stave off toxicity when targeting acute myeloid leukemia with immunotherapy.