Indivumed and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) of Singapore’s Agency for Science
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Indivumed and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) of Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) said today they will build what they said was the first global multiomics cancer database.

The value of the collaboration was not disclosed.

The partners said they have agreed to carry out proteomic and phosphoproteomic analyses of thousands of tissue samples from Indivumed's biobank. The data will be contributed to IndivuType, a global cancer database solution that covers 22 different cancer types.

According to Indivumed, more than 30,000 patients have contributed annotated biospecimens to the database to date, and more than 10,000 new international patients have been added every year.

The database combines clinical information of more than 320 validated clinical data points for each patient, including long-term outcome information with highly controlled raw biological data (including protein, phosphoproteins, and DNA/RNA expression) on every patient, from fresh, fresh frozen and formalin-fixed tissue blocks from tumors and corresponding normal tissue, as well as fluids such as plasma, serum, and urine.

IndivuType combines genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, precision proteomic, and digital histopathology data with clinical information. The database is designed to enable cancer researchers and clinicians to comprehensively analyze and understand the complexity of the disease through bioinformatic and artificial intelligence tools.

“The high quality of Indivumed's global biobank as well as its collection and processing standards of all tissues and clinical data, provides a unique opportunity to understand the phenotype in cancer patients,” Prof. Wanjin Hong, Ph.D., Executive Director of IMCB, said in a statement.

IMCB was launched in 1985 by A*STAR, Singapore's lead government agency dedicated to fostering top-tier scientific research and talent.

Based in Hamburg, Germany, Indivumed is a global oncology research company whose cancer database and biobank facilitate multi-omics capabilities. Those capabilities are designed to allow for characterization of samples and data such as whole genome gene expression analysis, expression analysis of cancer relevant proteins, expression analysis of cancer relevant phosphoproteins and bioinformatic solutions for integrating molecular, biological and clinical information. 

Added Prof. Hartmut Juhl, M.D., Ph.D., founder and CEO of Indivumed: “This agreement is for us a major milestone in building the leading global cancer database which will open novel avenues and treatment modalities to fight this devastating malady.”

Development of IndivuType is among purposes for which Indivumed has won funding from private investors and the European Investment Bank (EIB), the bank of the European Union.

In January, the EIB agreed to award Indivumed a loan of €40 million ($46.6 million) toward the global cancer database solution, as well as toward the development and validation of new biomarkers for the Biobank business and technology platforms.

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