Our Collaborations
Research collaboration is the Institut Roche’s mainspring and core business: we co-construct and foster public-private partnerships to move biomedical innovation forward for the benefit of patients. Discover some of our most iconic collaborations :
Infectious Diseases
Neutralizing antibodies to hepatitis B virus : 2014-2021
Therapeutic area : Hepatitis B
Partners : Institut Pasteur, Institut Roche
Project leaders : Dr. Hugo Mouquet
The Institut Pasteur and the Institut Roche, in collaboration with Switzerland-based pRED-Roche Innovation Center, generated and characterized human monoclonal antibodies specific for VHB envelope antigens and improved understanding of antibody response conferring protection against HBV infection.
Our results led to a joint Roche-Institut Pasteur patent application finalized in June 2020. We also published these results conjointly in JEM (Journal of Experimental Medicine) in 2020.
In July 2021, Roche Partnering signed a licensing agreement with the Institut Pasteur to obtain full development rights to one of these new therapeutic targets. These will complement Roche’s ongoing development strategy regarding HBV co-immunotherapy.
Neurology
InFoR : 2012-2019
Therapeutic area : Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
Partners : INSERM, FondaMental Foundation, Institut Roche
Project leaders : Pr. Marion Leboyer, Pr. Manuel Bouvard, Pr. Richard
The InFoR Autism research project, a collaboration conducted from 2012 to 2019 by Institut Roche, Inserm, and the FondaMental Foundation, aimed to improve our understanding of ASD. More accurate subgroups identification and diagnosis open up new therapeutic avenues.
Several scientific publications from this collaboration program already provide a better understanding of anxiety participation in social interaction disorders.
GliSyn : 2020-2025
Therapeutic area : Alzheimer’s disease
Partners : GHU Paris, Inserm, CEA, Institut Roche
Project leaders : Pr. Marie Sarazin
Based on a translational research approach, the GliSyn project studies the role of neuro-immune interactions in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders to develop innovative immunotherapy approaches and biomarkers related to immunity.
Professor Marie Sarazin
Professor Marie Sarazin from IHU A-ICM shares her insights on new diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr.Pierre Lafaye
How to develop new markers specific to Alzheimer’s disease ? Dr. Pierre Lafaye tackled this challenge through the LLAMA ALZ project, a partnership between Pasteur Institute and the Roche Institute.
Oncology
Cassiopeia : 2021-2026
Therapeutic area : Triple-negative breast cancer
Partners : Institut Curie, Oncodesign, Vyoo Agency, Roche, Institut Roche
Project leaders : Pr. Fatima Mechta-Grigoriou, Dr. François-Clément Bidard
The CASSIOPEIA project is part of a call for proposals from the French governmental RHU (university hospital research) program to understand triple-negative breast cancer better (especially its heterogeneity) and identify patients who may develop early resistance to treatment.
The research teams study new detection methods for metastases and early relapses, and, ultimately, this predictive approach will help develop innovative targeted therapies.
Study of tertiary lymphoid structure in breast cancers : 2017-2021
Therapeutic area : Breast cancer
Partners : Institut Curie, Institut Roche
Project leaders : Pr. Vassili Soumelis
This collaboration between Institut Curie and Institut Roche studied tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) in breast cancer patients to identify the biological and clinical characteristics associated with TLS presence.
Together, we generated a comprehensive understanding of the tumor microenvironment and its involvement in tumor development and response to immunotherapies.
MICCHADO and iPODD : 2018-2025
Therapeutic area : Pediatric oncology
Partners : Institut Curie, Institut Gustave Roussy, Centre Léon Bérard, Association Imagine for Margo, Institut Roche
Project leaders : Pr. Gudrun Schleiermacher
As part of the iPODD initiative, Institut Roche became a privileged partner of the MICCHADO program (Molecular and Immunological Characterization of High-Risk Pediatric Cancer at diagnosis, during treatment, and follow up), which aims to improve the understanding of oncogenesis and tumor progression mechanisms in pediatric populations. The researchers seek to highlight the connections between molecular and immunological characteristics and tumor aggressiveness.
Ultimately, our shared goal is to anticipate the risk of treatment resistance in children with cancer and develop an innovative therapeutic approach, thus increasing their chances of recovery.
Pr Antoine Italiano
Professor Antoine Italiano, oncologist at Institut Bergonié, presents a new therapeutic strategy to fight soft tissue sarcoma.
Pr Basset-Seguin
Collaborative research between Professor Basset-Seguin of Hopital Saint-Louis and Genentech (Roche Group) helped understand the variation in response to treatment of basal cell carcinoma.
Rare diseases
NatHis SMA : 2015-2020
Therapeutic area : Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)
Partners : Institut de Myologie, Institut Roche
Project leaders : Pr. Laurent Servais
From 2015 to 2020, the NatHis SMA scientific partnership initiated by Institut Roche and Institute of Myology aimed to improve knowledge of types 2 and 3 SMA and discover associated markers.
The results published in Neurology show the evolution of motor and respiratory functions, muscle strength, and quality of life of patients over two years, shining a new light on SMA’s clinical characteristics to develop new therapeutic approaches.
MyScientific Collaborations
At the heart of the Roche R&D, the Institut Roche streamlines innovation by connecting and supporting all the Roche autonomous and synergic poles (Roche Pharma R&D (pRED), Genentech R&D (gRED), Roche Diagnostics, Chugai, Foundation Medicine Inc. (FMI), etc). Together, those divisions build an ecosystem of outstanding expertise, connecting with hundreds of external partners.
This is how Institut Roche has set up more than 200 scientific partnerships to discover.