Introduction

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One of the National Cancer Center(NCC)'s most important functions is to conduct its own research and support the Korean cancer community's research activities. As a cancer research hub of Korea, the NCC Research Institute is striving to develop, through its intra- and extra-mural programs, innovative technologies to prevent, diagnose, treat and predict cancer. In doing so, research activities are centered around the six most common cancers in Korea - stomach, liver, lung, colorectum, breast, cervix uteri. In addition, the institute collects and analyses information on the latest global trends in cancer research and disseminates data to the cancer community in Korea.

The institute, armed with a vision of culminating into a center of excellence that explores new frontiers in cancer research through innovative ideas and novel technologies, established its new long-term goals in 2003 as follows;

NCC's Long-term Goals in Cancer Detection & Treatment Technology Development


	FY 2003	FY 2013
Diagnostic Tools	Almost all new anti-cancer drug products imported from abroad	Development of more than 6 types of diagnostic tools
Anti-cancer Drugs		Identification of more than 10 kinds of anti-cancer drug candidates, including examples for anti-angiogenesis and anti-metastasis
Technology Licensing		Conclusion of more than 6 contracts for licensing

Policy Directions for R&D Program: Emphasis on Translational Research

Staffed by more than 70 high-caliber researchers and the most up-to-date equipment and facilities such as the seven-story research building with a total floor space of 33,000m² and the experimental animal facility, the institute is trying to meet the aforementioned vision of becoming a leading cancer research center by adopting the following strategies:

Development of innovative prevention, detection and treatment technologies for cancer in the post-genome era
Focusing on translational research, in which the results of basic research are turned into new interventions that can be applied to cancer patients and people at risk.

B&D for Cancer Therapeutics

The NCC, in cooperation with the government, is trying to introduce a new national drug development initiative to bridge the gap between discovering drug candidates for cancer and translating them into therapeutics. Dubbed as the 'Bridging and Development Program for Cancer Therapeutics', this new initiative is to facilitate the drug development process by having a special board of experts in and out of the NCC carry out pre- and early phase(I, II)- clinical trials for the new candidates they have solicited from the originating inventors and evaluate the results as well instead of the inventors. The NCC aims to develop at least three cancer drug candidates that will enter the phase-III clinical trials by 2019.

Research Areas

The institute's research projects consist of both NCC's Institutional R&D Program and contract-based R&D projects from the industry. Its research activities are categorized into the following three areas: