Guiding KU Leuven's glioblastoma research to the clinic with precision business planning

KU Leuven

Business & Communications

Pharma

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Glioblastoma is an aggressive brain tumor with a poor prognosis and few treatment options. Due to its heterogeneous cell population (featuring many different types of cells), that varies between patients as well as within the same tumor, treatment after relapse is almost impossible.

To help shine a ray of hope on those working, researching, and suffering from glioblastoma, the Lab for Precision Cancer Medicine at KU Leuven has developed a functional precision oncology platform that maps this heterogeneity by looking at the tumor RNA using a process called next-generation sequencing (NGS). Starting from the patient’s biopsy, it screens for the treatments that will most effectively battle specific cell populations.

Using this platform, they want to guide treatment selection in the clinic, and patient selection in clinical trials. These actions also generate a bounty of data, opening doors for future target and drug discovery.

About KU Leuven

KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is Belgium's largest and oldest university, renowned for its pioneering research and world-class education. Founded in 1425, it consistently ranks among Europe's top universities, offering a broad range of programs across disciplines. With a strong focus on innovation and collaboration, KU Leuven is a leading academic hub, driving progress in science, technology, and societal development.

1

Challenge

2

Approach

3

Result

Challenge

Positioning KU Leuven’s precision oncology platform for impact

To further develop their promising platform, aiming for industrial application, the team wanted to apply for funding, which would offer them the necessary resources and time. However, a crucial component of the application required a comprehensive business plan outlining all the valorization needs.

Having previously collaborated with QbD through the QbD Chair for Precision Oncology Research in Glioblastoma, Prof. De Smet — associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine — and his team sought specialized support from QbD Business & Communications (B&C). They needed help structuring their platform’s market entry strategy to meet both industry standards and funding expectations.

The Chair supports Prof. De Smet’s research on better treatments for glioblastoma including the functional precision oncology project. We spoke to Yanti De Visser, doctoral fellow on the research project, to find out a bit more from their perspective.

Approach

Market-ready strategy for precision oncology

Luc Segers, division head Business & Communications at QbD Group, and Steven van Hove, senior Business Strategy consultant, derived a solution that incorporated their whole laboratory chain as well as their data analysis.

The components of the functional oncology platform must be developed precisely and of a high quality, while also being priced correctly. This was not an easy exercise for researchers as they were professionals in the lab but not in the business world.

QbD Business & Communications set up a business plan comprising various estimates and requirements including: necessary registrations, certifications, unique selling points (USPs), competitor analysis, market research and more.

Luc and Steven also brought up relevant questions on availability: will one lab in central Europe be enough to serve the whole continent, and what are the options and required business models if they want to internationalize?

Result

From winning grants to inspiring spin-offs

The business plan helped them prioritize the right things and contributed to a winning SBO grant proposal. This meant four more years of financial support to automate their platform and extend the number of drugs that can be tested.

Afterwards, De Visser, inspired by her new passion for the more business side of the project, won a prize by creating her own business plan for an educational program on spin-offs.

Driven by our own belief in the project, we still provide guidance and advice whenever needed. We do not only lay out the roadmap, we are involved in the journey as well.

Steven and Luc pointed out a lot of aspects we did not think about at first. It opened up my eyes to the industry side of things and made me discover a new passion of business and academia.

Yanti De Visser

Doctoral fellow on the research project

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