2023-11-01 11:45:23
Leuven professor Frederik De Smet is partnering with QbD, a life sciences consulting company, to find better treatments for glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain tumors. The collaboration was inspired by the personal experience of QbD’s founder, Bart Van Acker, whose friend Pieter Van Vlierberghe was diagnosed with glioblastoma in early 2020 and passed away in December of that year.
Van Acker and Van Vlierberghe had been best friends since high school and studied bioengineering together. Van Vlierberghe went on to specialize in childhood leukemia and became a renowned researcher in the field. He contacted De Smet, who was already working on glioblastoma research, and proposed a collaboration to support or sponsor additional research into the disease.
De Smet’s research focuses on glioblastoma, a rare and highly lethal type of brain tumor. The challenge lies in the tumor’s heterogeneity, meaning there is a lot of variation in the molecular or genetic makeup of the tumors. This makes it difficult to develop targeted treatments. To address this, De Smet and his team are developing methods to better tailor existing treatments and make them more specific to individual patients.
One major obstacle in glioblastoma research is the need for a sufficient number of patients with positive responses to treatments in order to gain regulatory approval from authorities like the FDA or EMA. As glioblastoma is a rare disease, it is challenging to meet this requirement. De Smet’s aim is to create an acceleration in the approval process by developing methods that allow for the estimation of treatment effectiveness in advance.
The research center led by De Smet collaborates with other Belgian and European institutions, but additional funding is always welcome. Van Vlierberghe and Van Acker’s plan to establish a chair for more research in glioblastoma was welcomed by De Smet, as it will provide more resources to further their investigations.
Pieter Van Vlierberghe was aware that he would not personally benefit from additional research, but he believed that his contribution could improve the chances of recovery for future patients. He responded well to standard treatments and lived longer than the average expected lifespan after diagnosis. Van Acker recalls that the idea to create a chair for more research came directly from Van Vlierberghe himself.
Overall, the collaboration between De Smet and QbD holds hope for better treatments for glioblastoma, fueled by personal experience and a commitment to improving the outcomes for patients with this devastating disease.]
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