The Japanese Cancer Association and Debiopharm Group Announce Winners of the 2016 JCA-Mauvernay Award

PR66057

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ -

- The 'JCA-Mauvernay Award 2016' is awarded to Doctors Hidewaki Nakagawa and

Hiroyuki Seimiya

Debiopharm Group(TM)(http://www.debiopharm.com), a Swiss-based global

biopharmaceutical company, will be presenting the 'JCA-Mauvernay Award' on

October 8 to Doctors Hidewaki Nakagawa from the RIKEN Center for Integrated

Medical Sciences for his basic research on Molecular Diagnosis and Treatment of

Cancers Using Genome Sequencing and Genome-wide Association Study and Hiroyuki

Seimiya from the Division of Molecular Biotherapy, Cancer Chemotherapy Center

of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research for his applied research on

Telomere Maintenance System as an Anticancer Therapeutic Target.

     (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160830/402503LOGO )

Doctors Nakagawa and Seimiya will receive their Awards during the General

Assembly of the 75th  Annual Meeting of the Japanese Cancer Association (JCA)

in Yokohama on the following theme: 'Breakthroughs in Cancer Treatment:

Collaboration of Basic, Translational and Clinical Research'. Dr. Kohei

Miyazono, President of the JCA and Thierry Mauvernay, Co-President & Delegate

of the Board of Debiopharm Group, will present the trophies to both scientists.

Dr. Nakagawa has been working on cancer genomics for many years. He has

analyzed gene expression profiles of pancreatic and prostate cancer cells to

identify target genes for molecular diagnosis and therapies. He has elucidated

their biological functions and demonstrated that they could serve as targets of

antibody, small interfering RNA (siRNA) or immune-mediated therapies. Dr.

Nakagawa has also analyzed the mutational landscape of Japanese liver cancers

by whole genome sequencing and using next-generation sequencing (NGS)

technology and has identified several oncogenic mutations.

Telomeres maintenance system could be a promising anticancer strategy as cancer

cells often activate telomere-lengthening enzymes to counteract the natural

telomere-shortening process ensuing from repeated cell cycles and leading to

normal cell senescence and death. Dr. Seimiya and his group have conducted

studies on telomeres and telomere-related factors. They have reported that long

telomeres increase the levels of the telomeric non-coding RNA, which in turn

suppresses the innate immune genes expression in cancer.

"For more than 10 years, our goal has been to reward outstanding achievements

in the field of oncology amongst Japanese researchers. We are pleased to see

that they are still very committed. We congratulate Doctors Nakagawa and

Seimiya for the high quality of their research and hope their work will lead to

effective treatments in the years to come", said Thierry Mauvernay,

Co-President & Delegate of the Board of Debiopharm Group.

About the JCA-Mauvernay Award

Since 2005, the Japanese Cancer Association (JCA) and Debiopharm Group have

co-organized the 'JCA-Mauvernay Award'. This prize illustrates the curiosity

that drives researchers as well as the scientific cooperation between Japan and

Switzerland. It aims at recognizing outstanding achievements in the field of

oncology amongst Japanese researchers, in both the fundamental and the clinical

aspects. The award has a total value of CHF 25'000.

About Debiopharm Group

Debiopharm Group(TM) is a Swiss-based global biopharmaceutical group of five

companies active in the development and manufacture of drugs and diagnostics

tools. Debiopharm focuses on developing prescription drugs that target unmet

medical needs. The group in-licenses and develops promising drug candidates.

The products are commercialized by pharmaceutical out-licensing partners to

give access to the largest number of patients worldwide.

For more information, please see http://www.debiopharm.com

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Debiopharm International SA Contact

Christelle Tur

Communication Coordinator

christelle.tur@debiopharm.com

Tel: +41(0)21-321-01-11

SOURCE: Debiopharm International SA