Bayer HealthCare to support colon cancer research programme

Bayer HealthCare is to support a major new academic-industry research project that will aim to make discoveries in the field of colon cancer treatment.

The new five-year scheme is being launched by OncoTrack, the international scientific consortium managed by Bayer and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics.

It will aim to partner leading European academic scientists with pharmaceutical companies to develop and assess new approaches for identifying cancer biomarkers, via high-quality genomic and epigenetic sequence data from tumours and their metastases.

The project is to be funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative and will also be supported by major drugmakers such as AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim and Merck Sharpe and Dohme.

Dr David Henderson, principal scientist in translational sciences at Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, said: "OncoTrack is a prime example of the manner in which public-private partnerships are breaking new ground in collaborative research involving academic and industrial partners."

According to data from the Bayer group's financial report last month, Bayer HealthCare generated sales of 16.91 billion euros (14.56 billion pounds) in 2010.