News

Our Clinical Alliance Manager, Sofie Boutkan, closely follows innovations in cancer treatment. Through her international network, she proactively seeks collaboration with pharmaceutical companies to make new treatments available to patients through clinical studies.
Do you want to learn more about Sofie’s networking role?

Dr. Marloes van Dongen is the principal investigator at our center for a study involving a new B7-H4-targeted Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC) from AstraZeneca. Patients can be referred for prescreening for the B7-H4 protein using an archived biopsy. This offers new hope for patients who do not respond to standard treatments. Read more about the inclusion criteria for patients on our blog.

Patients in phase 1 studies at our center are supported by a Nurse Specialist (NS), who monitors the progress of the study and treatment, facilitates patient referrals, and provides them with psychosocial support. In an interview, Marjolein van Mil and Coby Guijt talk about how multifaceted and central their role as NS is within the Early Drug Development Center.

The field of drug devlopment has witnessed remarkable advancements in recent years. As we move into 2024, we anticipate the introduction of new antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and novel immunotherapy combinations, along with updates to the clinical trial participation criteria. Discover the expected developments for 2024 from four of our leading specialists.

Clinical trials can introduce numerous challenges. Our recent interview with Lieke Maas, Study Coordinator at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI)/AvL, provides us with a behind-the-scenes perspective on the crucial aspects of setting up a clinical trial.

The M22TGA study is an investigator-initiated phase I clinical trial based on in house pre-clinical findings and a TGF-β inhibitor produced by our own pharmacy. In this study the TGF-β inhibitor, galunisertib, will be combined with capecitabine in patients with advanced CRC and peritoneal metastases. The trial is currently active at the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital and will soon be available at the Amsterdam UMC.

A new potential therapy for patients with advanced-stage solid tumours characterised by changes in the HER2 gene is showing encouraging results. The NCT04886804 study, conducted at the NKI under the coordination of Dr.Frans Opdam, and in collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, has been exploring the potential of BI 1810631, a novel tyrosine kinase HER2 inhibitor.