The first aims to develop a personalised screening strategy and the second a vaccine for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer.

This morning, on the occasion of International Breast Cancer Day (19 October), the Department of Economic and Business Development presented two strategic projects whose main objective is to improve the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. Each of the projects has received a grant of around 1,250,000 euros, making a total of 2,500,000 euros.

Personalised breast cancer screening

The NAGEN Mx project consortium involves professionals from the Health Institute of Public Health and Labour of Navarra (ISPLN), the Genetics and Medical Oncology services of the University Hospital of Navarra (HUN) / Nafarroako Ospitale Unibertsitarioa (NOU) and the company Nutrición 3G; all of them under the coordination of Navarrabiomed.

The initiative is led by Ángel Alonso Sánchez, a specialist in Clinical Genetics at the University Hospital of Navarra and, since 2016, head of the Genomic Medicine Unit at Navarrabiomed, the unit from which the NAGEN programme is being developed. This strategic programme aims to implement genomic analysis technology in the public health network of Navarra.

Vaccine for triple negative breast cancer

The second project presented, the BLANCA project, aims to develop a vaccine for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer. It is coordinated by Puri Fortes, principal investigator of the Gene Therapy and Regulation of Gene Expression Programme since its creation and, previously, of the Department of Hepatology and Gene Therapy of the Centre for Applied Medical Research (CIMA).

This project has the collaboration of the ADITECH Foundation, the company Bionananoplus S.L., the Foundation for Applied Medical Research, the Navarrabiomed research centre, the HUN, the University of Navarra and the SARAY Breast Cancer Association of Navarra.

The Director General of Industry, Energy and Strategic Projects S3, Uxue Itoiz, closed the presentation of both projects, which took place today Monday at 10:00 am in the assembly hall of Navarrabiomed. The event was also attended by Ángel Alonso and Puri Fortes, coordinators of the projects, and Joaquina Hernández, from the SARAY Association.