OncoHost receives a €2.5 million European grant to advance precision oncology

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OncoHost (Binyamina and Cary, North Carolina), a technology company revolutionizing precision medicine to improve patient outcomes, and its prestigious partners, University Hospital Heidelberg, the European Institute of Oncology, and Virgen Macarena University Hospital, today announced the award of a €2.5 million grant from Horizon Europe's (European Innovation Council) EIC Transition Program.

This grant, received as a consortium, will support OncoHost and leading European medical centers in the development of a new biomarker to predict response to immunotherapy in five indications: non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), renal cell carcinoma (RCC), melanoma, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), and triple-negative breast cancer. The consortium will be led and coordinated by OncoHost starting in May 2025.

“  This new consortium, funded by the European Union, represents a valuable and unique opportunity to translate preclinical data into clinically validated biomarkers, allowing the selection of the most appropriate treatment for cancer patients and avoiding unnecessary side effects  ,” said Professor Francesco Bertolini of the European Institute of Oncology.

Based on these results, the consortium plans to develop a new test called NeutroFlow, which will provide a simple and rapid, point-of-care method for predicting treatment response. This unique neutrophil subpopulation can be easily detected by flow cytometry, an instrument available in medical centers and used in a variety of other clinical situations. This provides a cost-effective test for accurately predicting the therapeutic benefit of ICIs.

“ We look forward to contributing to the integration of Neutroflow, the first cellular immunotherapy biomarker, into daily clinical practice to further personalize the care of our patients ,” said Professor Petros Christopoulos of Heidelberg University.

“ Our participation in NeutroFlow will enable rapid clinical validation of a promising biomarker for multiple cancer types ,” added Dr. Alberto Moreno of Virgen Macarena University Hospital. “ For patients, this means more accurate treatment selection; for clinicians, access to a practical decision-making tool. The involvement of a multidisciplinary team ensures rapid translation of research findings into real-world clinical practice. ”

The EIC Transition programme is a funding programme of Horizon Europe, the European Union's (EU) main funding programme for research and innovation. The programme targets innovative activities that go beyond experimental proof-of-principle in the laboratory and supports the maturation and validation of new technologies in relevant application environments.

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