Roche has launched the global cancer immunotherapy Centers of Research Excellence (imCORE) Network. This network brings together many of the world’s leading scientific and clinical experts in cancer immunotherapy to collaborate in investigating the most promising new treatment approaches. The goal is to rapidly initiate pre-clinical and clinical research based on the latest scientific discoveries and to aggregate and share data to accelerate the search for cures for people with cancer. The imCORE Network will focus on identifying approaches to expand the number of people who benefit from cancer immunotherapy by exploring new ways to activate a person’s immune system to fight their cancer.

“We believe the fastest way to advance progress against cancer is through collaboration, and consistent with our values, the goal of imCORE is to facilitate access to new technologies and emerging data among the top researchers around the world,” said Sandra Horning, M.D., chief medical officer and head of Global Product Development. “imCORE represents our most recent commitment to collaborate with the global cancer community to further understand the biology and immunology of cancer and to develop new treatments that may one day offer a cure for people with cancer.’’

Roche will invest up to 100 million Swiss Francs to support basic and clinical research collaborations related to cancer immunotherapy. This investment is incremental to Roche’s on-going research and development of investigational medicines and treatment approaches in the field of cancer immunotherapy.

imCORE is a global network of basic and clinical scientists from 21 leading academic research institutions in cancer immunotherapy who will work together with scientists from Roche and Genentech, a member of the Roche group in the U.S., with the goal of developing potential cures for people with cancer. Roche is working in collaboration with the network on existing and new investigational medicines, diagnostic technologies and emerging data. The network will also closely collaborate to identify and prioritize the most promising new treatment approaches and to rapidly conduct clinical trials to accelerate progress in the field.