$6M venture moves GR into molecular medicine

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

A $6 million joint venture between Spectrum Health and the Van Andel Institute will offer cutting-edge molecular medicine capabilities. The Center for Molecular Medicine (CMM) will aid in early diagnosis and improved treatments for cancers, heart disease, mental illness, and other complex diseases.

The CMM will also attract genomics-based clinical trials sponsored by pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies.

"We have developed tools that allow us to interrogate the entire human genome simultaneously," said Doctor Daniel H. Farkas, PhD., executive director. "We can ask complicated questions about complicated diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, that are not caused simply by one gene going awry."

The CMM can facilitate trials in patient sub-populations derived from the 650,000 inpatients and outpatients that come through Spectrum Health's doors each year.

For example:

• A pharmaceutical company wants to test a treatment of a specific cancer.
• Patients from Spectrum's patient population may be enrolled.
• A simple blood test may determine at a molecular level—DNA, RNA, and proteins—which patients will or will not respond to the drug.
• Clinical trials assess the results, and determine the appropriateness of a possible new drug for a given patient.

"We make a very compelling argument for companies to sponsor trials in Grand Rapids," Farkas said. "VAI has world-class translational research and bioinformatics, which are the seeds and tools for the new genomic medicine. Spectrum has an amazing group of clinical trial coordinators dedicated to improving patient treatments."

Farkas expects the CMM to recruit trials this year, although no contracts have been signed to-date.

"We're bringing cutting-edge genomic medicine to the patients and physicians of this region, and we're growing the local economy. Grand Rapids will move medicine forward on a state, regional, and national level."

Source: Daniel H. Farkas, PhD, HCLD, Center for Molecular Medicine

Deborah Johnson Wood is the Development News Editor for Rapid Growth. She can be reached at [email protected].