Sanofi and the Curie Institute are teaming up as part of a three-year preclinical research collaboration to discovery and development of new therapeutic targets for ovarian cancer.

Participating through its Institut Carnot arm, Curie-Cancer is working with Sanofi to “revisit the basic biology of this type of cancer through a translational research approach,” the partners said. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Sanofi will provide its expertise in the selection of therapeutic targets. For its part, the Curie Institute offers a large collection of cryopreserved tumor samples, which are characterized clinically, histologically, and biologically. Together, the organizations hope to better understand the molecular alterations behind ovarian cancers, and design drugs to better target those.

“We hope this type of long-term collaboration will ultimately open up perspectives for new therapeutic options for women with this disease. It will combine the accumulated knowledge on ovarian cancer gathered over many years by oncologists and biologists at the Institut Curie with the expertise of researchers from Sanofi’s research and product development teams,” Debasish Roychowdhury, M.D., svp and head, Sanofi Oncology, said in a statement. “Established under the Aviesan1 partnership, this research agreement is a good example of translational research involving French scientific excellence.”

Added Curie-Cancer Director Damien Salauze: “To potentially provide our patients with additional therapeutic solutions, we are very happy to collaborate with Sanofi, whose expertise in the selection of therapeutic targets is complementary to the know-how and technology platforms developed at the Institut Curie.”

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