Worldwide Innovative Network (WIN) in personalised cancer medicine consortium today proudly announced that Pfizer, Inc is the first pharmaceutical company to become a member of the consortium.

Founded on the recognition that greater success can be achieved through collaboration than any organisation can achieve alone, the WIN Consortium is a global network of leading academic, industry, and patient advocacy organisations working to make personalised cancer care a reality for patients worldwide.

Pfizer’s strong corporate commitment to the development of drugs using a precision medicine approach, coupled with the company’s deep breadth of experience in the development of oncology therapeutics, strategically align the company’s goals and capabilities with the mission of the WIN Consortium.

As the newest member of the consortium, Pfizer will play an integral role in shaping the future achievements of this collective group on behalf of cancer patients around the world.

"Bringing the latest advances in personalized cancer medicine to the patient requires collaboration and partnerships between multiple sectors of the health sciences community,” said Professor Alexander Eggermont, General Director, Institut Gustave Roussy and Vice-Chairman of WIN Consortium.

"Pfizer's strong commitment to the development of targeted cancer therapeutics and its breadth of expertise in oncology drug development will play a key role in accelerating the pace at which patients can benefit from advances in personalised cancer medicine. We are proud to have Pfizer as WIN's first pharmaceutical partner and believe that this collaboration will benefit cancer patients worldwide."

Pfizer’s advanced capabilities in the development of targeted oncology therapies will provide a breadth of insights and opportunities to the Consortium. Pfizer is actively developing a strong pipeline of oncology drugs active against a specific target or pathway, with programs in areas including oncogenic drivers / cell signaling, antibody drug conjugates, anti-angiogenesis, and cancer stem cells, metabolism, and epigenetics. As the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company, Pfizer is active in over 100 oncology focused clinical trials annually.

“Pfizer is excited to become the first pharmaceutical company to join the WIN Consortium and to be able to contribute our expertise and resources in oncology drug development to this important collaboration,” said Dr. Richard Buller, Vice President of Translational Oncology for Pfizer’s Oncology Business Unit. “Personalized cancer care is an important part of our mission at Pfizer and this initiative provides a unique forum to collectively share insights, exchange ideas, and positively impact cancer patients.”

Initiated in 2010 by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (USA) and the Institut Gustave Roussy (France), the WIN Consortium is a global network of 25 leading organizations from the academic, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare IT, and patient advocacy sectors working to accelerate the pace and reduce the cost of translating novel cancer treatments to the bedside by developing and applying, through worldwide clinical trials and research projects, the most promising advances in genomic-based cancer research. WIN is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization headquartered in Paris.

Source: Pfizer