With a firm commitment to leading innovation in the treatment of childhood cancer, HM Hospitales has launched the Paediatric Oncology Research Unit of the Clara Campal Comprehensive Cancer Centre,HM CIOCC, through the HM Hospitales Research Foundation. The unit will be located at HM Montepríncipe University Hospital. This new structure, a pioneer in the field of research within Spanish private healthcare, integrates a comprehensive R&D strategy focused on paediatric cancer for the first time, encompassing everything from basic research to clinical trials.
“With the creation of this unit, HM Hospitales takes a decisive step in it’s commitment to consolidating a model of personalised, translational, and evidence-based paediatric medicine. Furthermore, through a multidisciplinary approach, it provides children and adolescents with a care environment of the highest quality,” said Dr Blanca López Ibor, Director of the Paediatric Haematology and Oncology Unit at HM CIOCC.
Basic research: data science and oncolytic viruses
In the field of basic research, and in collaboration with the research groups of the HM Health Research Institute (IIS-HM), this new unit will promote two strategic and complementary lines of work. On one hand, the new Paediatric Oncology Data Science Unit will be responsible for the advanced computational analysis of clinical, molecular, and genomic data from paediatric oncology patients. This will help identify patterns, biomarkers, and molecular signatures that contribute to improved prognosis, personalised treatments, and a deeper understanding of the various types of childhood cancer.
On the other hand, the Oncolytic Virus Research Unit aims to focus on the development and preclinical validation of therapies based on oncolytic viruses, modified to specifically target paediatric tumour cells. This approach, considered one of the most promising frontiers in oncology biotechnology, opens new therapeutic pathways for tumours that currently have limited treatment options.
Different groups from IIS-HM and partner centres will work in a coordinated manner on both lines, with a strong commitment to developing multidisciplinary projects that connect basic science with real clinical practice.
Clinical research: clinical data in collaboration with START
The clinical arm of the project will be led by the new Clinical Trials Unit, which will provide early access to new treatments within the framework of clinical studies specifically designed for paediatric and adolescent oncology patients. It is already promoting new trials such as LuPARPed, which explores innovative approaches for incurable paediatric tumours that express somatostatin receptors.
In this way, HM Hospitales becomes one of the few hospital groups in Europe with the capacity to carry out paediatric clinical trials across all phases in a regulated, ethical, and highly specialised environment. This advancement in clinical research is made possible through an agreement with START (South Texas Accelerated Research Therapeutics), a strategic partner of the group with whom several collaborations in early-phase adult research are already underway. START is an international reference centre in early-phase oncology clinical trials.
A translational and integrated model
The launch of this Paediatric Oncology Research Unit is part of a translational and integrated research vision, where laboratory findings can be transformed into new therapeutic strategies, and vice versa: where questions arising from clinical practice drive new lines of basic research.
This initiative strengthens HM Hospitales’ position as a national benchmark in personalised medicine, while also highlighting its commitment to childhood, science, and excellence in patient care.
