Yesterday, five board representatives of the Jut Against Cancer Association donated a cheque for €6,000 to the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) to fund pancreatic cancer research.
Dr. Berta Laquente, specialist in gastrointestinal tumours, from the Medical Oncology Service of the Catalan Institute of Oncology, welcomed Judith Ramos, President of the Association, and founding members Pere Lorente and Antonia Torrico, and Salut González, Councilor for Social Services and Community Health, and thanked them for the efforts and commitment of the Association in promoting research as a tool to improve the quality of life of patients with pancreatic cancer, a disease which, unfortunately, has an survival rate of less than one year.
Dr. Laquente explained that the ICO clinical team is committed to clinical and preclinical research and is currently collaborating on several projects. This year, on the clinical side, two multicentre clinical trials will be launched, a therapeutic study for pancreatic cancer patients who carry the BRCA mutation and another viral therapy study with a modified virus that has had promising results in previous trials.
A multidisciplinary team that treats these patients, formed by specialists from both Bellvitge University Hospital and ICO, actively collaborates with research groups. Currently, the two projects in which they participate are focused on how the microbiota can affect the evolution of patients with pancreatic cancer and on the importance of nutrition in the evolution and response to treatments.
The commitment and collaboration of the Association Jut against cancer is, as Dr. Laquente said, “a boost for these projects and an extra motivation to continue working to improve the evolution of our patients”.
The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a biomedical research center created in 2004. It is participated by the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Viladecans Hospital of the Catalan Institute of Health, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona and the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
IDIBELL is a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the University of Barcelona HUBc and is part of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2009 it became one of the first five Spanish research centers accredited as a health research institute by the Carlos III Health Institute. In addition, it is part of the “HR Excellence in Research” program of the European Union and is a member of EATRIS and REGIC. Since 2018, IDIBELL has been an Accredited Center of the AECC Scientific Foundation (FCAECC).