Scientific excellence is the basis of Oncode Institute, an engine for breakthrough innovations in cancer treatment. With the aim of ensuring high quality scientific performance, Oncode Institute brings together ~52 leading cancer research groups in the Netherlands. Oncode Institute provides these research groups with base research funding and various network activities and support to perform potentially transformative research.

The objective for KPA1 is that Oncode Institute’s scientific excellence is maintained at a high level, competitive with major international research organizations in the field of biomedical and health sciences according to the Leiden Ranking¹. Scientific excellence will be measured using the following indicators:

1. The Mean Normalized Citation Score (MNCS): a field-normalized citation score for all Oncode Institute affiliated publications compared to the worldwide average for publications. A score of 1 means publication performance is on par with the worldwide average.
2. The percentage of highly cited publications (PP(top10%)): The percentage of all Oncode Institute affiliated publications that are among the top-10 percent of the citation distribution for similar publications belonging to the same fields.

In 2023, Oncode Institute Base Funds continued to be highly valued by Oncode Investigators. The funds provide OIs with the flexibility to rapidly act on new ideas, initiate research lines that would otherwise be difficult to finance, accelerate new and existing research lines, and change the scope of research programs. The impact of Oncode’s base funds can be seen at multiple levels, including new research collaborations, publications, and new funding opportunities based on preliminary data generated using Base Funding.
 
In 2023, Oncode Investigators and their teams collectively attracted 88 competitive grants and awards with a total value of €35 million. This reflects a success rate and appreciation of scientific excellence similar to the previous year (per Oncode Investigator: 2022: 1,5 grants; €0,7M vs. 2023: 1,7 grants; €0,7M).
 
In 2023, all 12 junior Oncode Investigators that joined the institute in 2019 were positively evaluated by an external committee of experts for their contribution to achieving Oncode Institute’s mission, including scientific excellence. As a result, they were invited to continue their affiliation as Senior Oncode Investigators per 1 January 2024. Furthermore, the Oncode Investigator community was expanded with 10 talented new investigators, growing the research community to 62 research groups across 13 institutes per January 1, 2024.

Bibliometric analysis, using the CWTS Leiden Ranking method¹, indicates that 25% of all Oncode Institute-affiliated articles published in the period 2019-2022 are among the top-10 percent of the citations distribution in their field*. In addition, an MNCS of 2,06 was achieved for this period. As indicated in the table below, the performance on both PP(top10%) and MNCS indicates that Oncode Institute’s performance on scientific excellence is in line* with the objective set for the current 5-year term.

¹ CWTS Leiden Ranking: https://www.leidenranking.com/ 
* Benchmarking against worldwide universities and research institutes for the reported period will be conducted once the Leiden Ranking 2024 is available (expected September 2024).

The collaborative excellence of Oncode Institute can be seen as a measure of the execution quality of its strategy to drive innovation, and contribute to affordable and sustainable healthcare through collaboration. This is based on the potential of the Oncode Institute community and the strategy to build a scientific community in which interdisciplinary collaborations are natural, boundaries to collaborate are overcome, and a culture of open science is fostered. Collaborative excellence will be assessed predominantly through non-quantitative means (e.g. interviews and narratives) supported by quantitative measures (monitored indicators such as joint publications, successful collaborative grant applications, industry collaborations, network analysis, and open access publications). 

The objective for KPA2 is to increase collaboration, not only between Oncode research groups, but between the Oncode community and the broader scientific community – academic, industrial, and clinical. Collaboration will be evaluated through illustrative examples and an open science indicator to assess the extent to which Oncode Institute is able to create: 

1. Innovative research initiatives by facilitating and promoting collaborations within the Oncode community.
2. A research ecosystem in which collaborations between fundamental and clinical researchers as well as patients are stimulated and rewarded. 
3. A research ecosystem that drives the development of research findings into potential applications through innovative public-private partnerships.
4. An open science research ecosystem in which publications, data and other types of output are shared at the earliest possible stage and made available for reuse. Open science will be measured using the following metric:
   •    Proportion of open access publications (PP(oa)): The percentage of Oncode Institute affiliated publications with an open access status. 

1. To facilitate and foster collaboration within the Oncode research community, between research groups and institutes and across all career levels, a total 9 events hosting almost 1500 attendees were hosted. A Brainstorm session to explore ‘outside-the-box’ collaborative projects was organized, and the institute’s Grant Officer tasked with mapping out and providing support for applications to collaborative (international) funding opportunities, participating as a project partner where applicable.
2. The scope and conditions of the Clinical Proof-of-Concept program to increase incentives and drive high quality clinical collaborations were evaluated. Under the renewed program, 1 project application was approved in 2023, and additional applications were submitted. This year, there were no clinical workshops. Under the patient engagement program, 3 dedicated patient engagement meetings were organized, 3 sessions were organized at 3 Oncode Institute events, and the program manager presented 3 invited lectures. The Patient Participation program grew to 23 patients and 13 research groups. 
3. Proactive Industry Engagement resulted in 127 executed agreements with an industry party, together representing a total contract value of €12,7M of which industry contributions totaled €4,2M in cash and €2,5M in kind. These included 20 new collaborative public-private projects, of which 8 were under the TKI-LSH Match call. Together, the public-private research collaborations represent a total contract value of €10,6M, of which industry contributions allocated to Oncode research were €3,5M in cash and €1,1M in kind.
4. In line with Oncode Institute’s Open Access Publishing Policy, the ambition is to have 100% of publications published with open access, targeting a PP(oa) of >90%. Bibliometric analysis (CWTS Leiden Ranking method¹, indicates that 93% of all Oncode Institute-affiliated articles published in the period 2019-2022 are published with Open Access. As presented in the table below, this indicates that Oncode Institute’s performance on Open Science is in line with the objective set for the current 5-year term.

¹ CWTS Leiden Ranking: https://www.leidenranking.com/ 

The translation of scientific discoveries into products that are implemented in clinical practice spans many years and runs through several development stages. Oncode Institute aims to achieve benefit for cancer patients and those at risk of developing cancer by accelerating the development of scientific discoveries resulting from Oncode Investigator fundamental research into clinical stage and onward in the development process, towards the ultimate aim of achieving clinical implementation.

The objective for KPA3 is to establish an increase in the rate of Oncode invention advancement towards the benefit of cancer patients and those at risk of developing cancer. Oncode Institute’s contribution to such health benefit will be measured using the following metric:

• The number of inventions in the active Oncode clinical portfolio, and their relative position in the development pathway towards implementation. Clinical developments can be a therapeutic, diagnostic, or recommendation for clinical guideline amendment. Clinical development is initiated upon treatment of / application to a first patient.

In 2023, 1 new Clinical Proof-of-Concept (CPoC) application was approved. To date, 18 CPoC projects have been approved, of which 7 are completed, 8 are actively running. In 14 projects a first patient has been included, 2 projects are approved with activities not yet started, and 1 project approval was cancelled. Starting 2023, 15 inventions were in active clinical development. Three inventions entered clinical development, all of which were readied for first-in-human clinical assessment with the support of Technology Development Funding. None were financed through the CPoC program. Clinical development of 2 inventions was discontinued due to disappointing results, 1 of which was a therapeutic and the other a diagnostic invention. The management of 2 inventions was transferred to the relevant research institute because the lead investigator’s affiliation with Oncode Institute did not continue into the current term. Consequently, these are not considered in the current active Oncode clinical portfolio. Both inventions remain in active clinical development at the respective institutes.

As summarized in the figure above and table below, at the end of 2023 the active Oncode clinical portfolio consisted of 14 inventions in active development. These represent 7 therapeutics, including 1 innovative therapeutic, 3 combination therapies, and 3 drug repurposing approaches; as well as 7 diagnostics.