Research in cancer immunotherapy and genomics wins Fiocruz Servier Award

After a difficult selection process in view of the quality of the projects submitted, the three winners of the 2nd Fiocruz Servier International Award, the first in Oncology, were announced last Thursday (6/13). The awards ceremony took place at the Foundation's Manguinhos campus in Rio de Janeiro, highlighting the scientific community that submitted projects and Brazilian research. Among the assessment criteria are the degree of technological innovation and meeting the unmet medical needs of the public health system. These points were noted in the winning studies, which will each receive 50,000 Euros over the next two years to fund their work with the aim of generating products and therapies that are accessible and beneficial to patients.

The award is an initiative of Fiocruz and Servier, with support from Inca, SBOC and SBAM (photo: Peter Ilicciev)

Among the winners are two studies by A. C. Camargo Cancer Center; one on biomarkers of therapeutic response and another on the use of massive sequencing technology. There was also a winner from the National Cancer Institute (Inca), with a paper on how to boost the use of CAR-T cells and the immune response. The award is an initiative of Fiocruz and Servier, with the support of the National Cancer Institute (Inca), the Brazilian Society of Clinical Oncology (SBOC) and the Brazilian Society of Medical Auditing (SBAM).

During the opening session, the president of Fiocruz, Mario Moreira, emphasized that oncology has become a priority area for Fiocruz, recalling the launch of the Strategy for Advanced Therapies in the treatment of cancer and rare diseases in March. For him, the award is part of this process: "We have the challenge of making specialized medicine accessible, of taking ownership of this technology for the benefit of the population," said Mario Moreira, who added about the partnership that made the award possible: "In addition to the quality of the projects enrolled, the award is an example of bringing the public and private sectors closer together, having the public as the primary interest."

During the ceremony, the general director of Servier in Brazil, Mathieu Fitoussi, emphasized their shared values with Fiocruz, focusing on the benefit of Brazilian patients first and foremost. "We believe that new care is possible," he said, thanking everyone involved in the award process. "This award reflects our support for research and commitment to personalized medicine, always seeking to improve patients' quality of life."

The president of the Institut Servier, Christophe Charpentier, sent a message to open the awards. By video, he highlighted the "dynamism and high level of quality of research in Brazil" and congratulated the judging panel and the winners. "We are very happy to be able to help researchers and institutions take their research forward. With this award, we benefit the patients, which is the most important thing."

At the ceremony, the president of SBAM, Marcos Santos, emphasized the high quality of the projects submitted and the importance of the initiative for the development of clinical research in Brazil. Inca's director-general, Roberto Gil, emphasized that, with the award, researches will be able to continue their work and hopefully generate actual benefits for Brazilian patients in terms of better and more accessible treatments.

Awards

The awards seek to highlight work with a high potential impact, considering the following criteria: unmet medical need, level of potential clinical benefit and degree of technological innovation. The assessment process was anonymized and conducted by a jury made up of members from Inca, SBOC, SBAM, Servier and Fiocruz, ensuring impartiality in choosing the winners without the Foundation and Inca assessing projects from their institutions.

Clinical oncologist at A. C Camargo Cancer Center Rodrigo Taboada represented the winners Rachel Simões Pimenta Riechelmann and Tiago Cordeiro Felismino at the ceremony (photo: Peter Ilicciev)

Marco Krieger, vice president of Production and Innovation in Health at Fiocruz, detailed the assessment process and said that the awards help to identify therapies and products that can be integrated into the Brazilian public health system. In all, 37 projects were submitted, from public and private institutions – with a majority of public ones. "The projects are so good that we had a hard time finding the best one. With the merit of their work, the winners who shared the prize achieved the maximum score. They are projects of a high scientific-technological standard and enhance the work done here," said Krieger.

To make the awards official, Mario Moreira and Mathieu Fitoussi presented the winners with plaques.

Winning projects

There were three winners who had the same score. Among them is the NextGeNETs study, which looks at the molecular profile of neuroendocrine neoplasms after alkylating agents and the response to immunotherapy. The project is by the director of the Clinical Oncology Department at A.C. Camargo Cancer Center, Rachel Simões Pimenta Riechelmann.

Another award winner was Inca researcher Martin Bonamino (photo: Peter Ilicciev)

The other award-winning paper is on predicting response to neoadjuvant therapy in locally advanced pancreatic cancer, by the leader of the Upper Digestive System Referral Center at the A.C. Camargo Cancer Center and Tiago Cordeiro Felismino, a master's student in Precision Cancer Medicine at the University of Oxford (England).

Among the winners was also the project Potentiating CAR-T cells in an ultra-fast manufacturing protocol, presented by Inca researcher Martin Bonamino.

Check out the video of the award broadcast (in Portuguese).