The Breast International Group (BIG) (Belgium)

The Breast International Group (BIG) is an international not-for-profit organisation representing the largest global network of academic research groups dedicated to finding better treatments and cures for breast cancer. Its mission is to facilitate and accelerate breast cancer research at an international level. BIG thinks globally and acts locally, helping breast cancer patients from all over the world. For over 20 years, BIG has been conducting global breast cancer clinical trials and research programmes. Many of these are landmark studies, introducing innovative designs, contributing to significant breakthroughs, or paving the way towards more personalised breast cancer treatment.

In 2021/2022, the Eurofins Foundation supported AURORA, (NCT02102165), an international, fully academic molecular screening programme for metastatic breast cancer (MBC). It integrates high-quality clinical data with molecular analyses from primary and metastatic tumours and blood samples collected at regular intervals for up to 10 years.

As of September 2021, 1,158 patients from 62 hospitals across 11 European countries were enrolled in the programme. The first results were published in Cancer Discovery.

The Eurofins Foundation’s support covered the costs of RNA-sequencing for approximately 25 of the patients participating in AURORA with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Raw data will be available early 2023.

Although the final results of AURORA will not be known for several years, patients who are participating in the study have already benefitted from being included in the context of research involving the latest technologies and very close and regular follow-up by their study physicians, which translates into better care.

This project contributes to the following United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal

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