19 June 2013 - 19 June 2013 - French Sanofi (EPA:SAN) and domestic medical, biological and biophysical research centre Curie Institute have teamed up to identify new therapeutic targets for the development of medicines for ovarian cancer, the parties said today.

The three-year research collaboration aims to revisit the basic biology of ovarian cancer through a translational research approach. The institute owns a collection of cryopreserved tumour samples that can be analysed to identify biological targets relevant to the efficient therapy of certain types of cancer, the entities noted.

The initiative will utilise technology platforms developed by the Institute Curie to sequence molecules expressed by the tumour genome, compare the sequences of those obtained with non-tumour tissues from the same patients, as well as clarify and validate the nature of the molecular alterations that are identified. Then, Sanofi will select therapeutic targets and guide an assessment of the tumour's ability to be inhibited or stimulated by medicines.