A new public–private research consortium aiming to advance precision cancer treatment has been awarded 14.9 million euros ($17.6 million) in funding from the European Union (EU)’s Innovative Health Initiative (IHI).
The PreciseOnco research consortium, coordinated by Philips, was created as a five-year program to develop cancer treatment through integrating advanced medical imaging, robotic assistance, and minimally invasive therapies.
An additional 9 million euros ($10.6 million) in “in-kind” contributions from partners in the industry will supplement the IHI funding, the consortium said.
The total budget of 23.9 million euros ($28.2 million) will be used to fund the research program, which will include five clinical studies for validating technical advances such as spectral imaging, robotic guidance, and electrochemotherapy, as well as creating a suite of AI-guided integrated technologies for precision cancer care.
PreciseOnco members include industry partners (Philips, Quantum Surgical, IGEA), the European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research (EIBIR), the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE), and several academic institutions -- University Hospital Cologne (Uniklinik Koeln) in Germany, University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU) and Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in the Netherlands, along with two major university hospital networks in France: Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (APHP; Hôpital Henri-Mondor) and Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL).
