A week does not go by without a new discovery concerning the fight against cancer. In basic research, most effort is focused on biological research with the ultimate aim of preventing cancer development. In applied/clinical research, the main emphasis is on targeted therapies based on the tumour molecular profile. Trials combining immunotherapeutic treatments are also carried out. A multidisciplinary structure that allows grouping together all these research types does not exist in France or anywhere in the world.
Compared to the advances in all these techniques, surgery remains badly equipped and progresses slowly. However, the surgical intervention is often determinant and life-saving. Yet, very few surgical research programmes, at least in France, are funded via institutional project calls.
IRTIC has a unique approach through:
- The establishment of a common facility to gather together multidisciplinary research groups with the aim of speeding up research projects and taking advantage of all available techniques and means in a domain – surgery – that currently is badly served by research
- Its proximity and links with the HEGP clinicians
- The active involvement in the project of key public- and private-sector players
- The approach focused on interventional techniques in cancer surgery of solid organs – that currently does not exist anywhere in the world, despite the major unmet needs
- The definition of cross-disciplinary projects that gather together multidisciplinary research groups – a first in oncology
- A project-oriented research approach, following the successful example of the USA. This allows carrying out research in cooperation with industry and starting from the medical needs and not from the industry profitability point of view.