PR85926

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Oct. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/--

- For its sixteenth edition, the JCA-Mauvernay Award was awarded to Doctor

Hideaki Ogiwara and Doctor Keisuke Kataoka

Debiopharm (www.debiopharm.com), a Swiss-based global, biopharmaceutical

company, presented the JCA-Mauvernay Award on October 3rd to Dr. Hideaki

Ogiwara from the Division of Cancer Therapeutics of the National Cancer Center

Research Institute for his work on the "Development of Synthetic Lethal Therapy

for Chromatin Regulator Deficient Cancers" and Dr. Keisuke Kataoka from the

Division of Molecular Oncology of the National Cancer Center Research Institute

for his work on the Genetic dissection of molecular pathogenesis in human cancer. 

Doctors Ogiwara and Kataoka received their Award during the hybrid

(virtual/live) meeting of the 79th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Cancer

Association (JCA) that was partially held in Hiroshima on the following theme:

"Confronting the solid truth of cancer and working together." As Mr. Thierry

Mauvernay, President of Debiopharm, was unable to join the ceremony due to the

pandemic situation, Dr. Hitoshi Nakagama President of the JCA and Dr. Takato

Noumi, Debiopharm's representative in Japan, were able to present trophies to

both winners.

The work of Dr. Hideaki Ogiwara focuses on synthetic lethality, an occurrence

when cancer cells become exquisitely sensitive to a therapeutic agent only

because they carry a genetic perturbation that renders them dependent on the

target of the therapeutic agent for survival. Inhibition of this target with

the agent will thus kill the mutated cells but have no effect on cells that do

not carry the genetic perturbation.

Dr. Keisuke Kataoka has been working on large-scale determination of genetic

alterations in human cancers and has identified some that could account for

tumor immune evasion. Dr. Kataoka has also identified multiple mutations within

single oncogenes that can be found across several cancer types. Some of these

multiple mutations could contribute to shaping the clonal selection of tumors.

"We are proud to reward Dr. Hideaki Ogiwari and Dr. Keisuke Kataoka for their

commitment and hard work in cancer research. I regret not being able to travel

to Japan, but this year's events have shown us how key global scientific

collaboration and research are to the development of tomorrow's treatments. We

have always been impressed by the high quality of scientific innovation that is

coming from Japan and we look forward to continuing this close relationship

with the Japanese Cancer Association."

- Thierry Mauvernay, President of Debiopharm.

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.

Debiopharm's commitment to cancer patients

Debiopharm aims to develop innovative therapies that target high unmet medical

needs in oncology. Bridging the gap between disruptive discovery products and

real-world patient reach, we identify high-potential compounds for

in-licensing, clinically demonstrate their safety and efficacy and then select

large pharmaceutical commercialization partners to maximize patient access

globally. Recently recognized as Swiss Biotech Success Story 2020 for our

achievements over the last 40 years, Debiopharm continues its quest to research

innovative cancer therapies such as the recently launched phase III trial

TrilynX for high-risk head and neck cancer patients with the FDA Breakthrough

Designated Therapy xevinapant (Debio 1143).

For more information, please visit: www.debiopharm.com 

We are on Twitter. Follow us @DebiopharmNews at

http://twitter.com/DebiopharmNews

Contact: Dawn Haughton

         Debiopharm

         Communication Manager

         dawn.haughton@debiopharm.com

         Tel: +41-(0)21-321-01-11

Source:  Debiopharm International SA