Pharmakine S.L., a biotechnological company belonging to the Dominion Group, held the first meeting of its advisory scientific committee on 18 June. The Basque biocompany prioritises research into cancer and its metastasis in order to establish a personalised therapy for each patient.

The committee of this company located in the Bizkaia Technology Park has four leading experts in the sphere of health management, scientific and care within the field of Oncology: Dr. Guillermo López Vivanco, Head of the Oncology Department at Hospital de Cruces (Bizkaia) and chairman of the committee, Dr. Carlos Camps Herrero, Head of the Oncology Department at Hospital General Universitario de Valencia (Valencia); Dr. Jose Luis Gonzalez Larriba, Head of the Oncology Department at Hospital Clínico San Carlos de Madrid (Madrid); and Dr. Jaume Bosch, director of the Centre of Network Biomedical Research on Hepatic and Digestive diseases, CIBERehd.

Pharmakine, founded on 8 March 2002, has 20 researchers -9 of whom are doctors- dedicated to researching the progression of cancer and its metastasis, by means of pre-clinical in vivo and in vitro models and samples from patients with cancer. The projects conducted by the company, funded with European and national capital, are intended to cover the needs and voids existing in diagnosing and treating cancer, with its sights set on reaching a personalised therapy for each patient. On one hand, the studies are aimed at developing systems capable of predicting those patients with cancer that are more likely to develop metastasis, identifying new tumour progression markers, developing new molecules capable of inhibiting the metastasis process (synthetic molecules patented by Pharmakine) and designing systems capable of identifying patient response to therapies. On the other hand, Pharmakine is studying the simple and non-invasive dissemination of cancer, by means of detecting tumour cells circulating in the blood, which allows the response of the tumour to therapy to be monitored.

Thanks to the setting up of the advisory scientific committee, Pharmakine will have the opinion of experts in the oncology clinical area that will complement the knowledge of its research team, accelerate the achievement of its technological goals and showcase them nationally and internationally.