OnCo
peoplePerson

Emile Voest

Led the DRUP trial giving off-label targeted drugs by genomic match, and developed organoid-based testing.

Emile Voest founded the Dutch DRUP precision oncology trial and the Hartwig Medical Foundation whole-genome sequencing programme, and developed patient-derived organoid co-cultures to test immunotherapy response.

Role
Medical Oncologist and Group Leader, Netherlands Cancer Institute
Specialisms
Precision oncologyOrganoidsOff-label drug access trials
Profiles

Papers

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TitleJournalYear
The Drug Rediscovery protocol facilitates the expanded use of existing anticancer drugsNature2019

Key papers

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rctNew England Journal of Medicine 2024changed practice
NICHE-2: a month of nivolumab and ipilimumab before surgery clears mismatch-repair-deficient colon cancer in most patients

For colon cancer that is mismatch-repair deficient (about 10-15% of colon cancers, more in older patients), a single short course of immunotherapy before surgery is now a reasonable standard and is far more effective than chemotherapy, which barely works in this subtype. It requires testing every colon cancer for mismatch repair at diagnosis, before surgery. Whether some patients can safely skip surgery, as in dMMR rectal cancer, is the next question.

Connected

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technologies

3
Functional (ex vivo) drug testingPatient-derived organoidsWhole-exome & whole-genome sequencing

institutions

2
KWF Dutch Cancer SocietyNetherlands Cancer Institute (NKI-AvL)

key papers

1
NICHE-2: a month of nivolumab and ipilimumab before surgery clears mismatch-repair-deficient colon cancer in most patients