Cure4Life is a team of high-profile researchers and scientists who work together to improve the accessibility of gene therapy in the medical and social fields. Everything is carried out in close collaboration with various stakeholders: patients, healthcare providers, legal representatives, clinics, policy makers, healthcare professionals, science journalists, health insurers and even commercial companies.

Every day, millions of people are affected by the effects of rare genetic diseases, caused by a change or mutation in our DNA. Treatments for these diseases are unavailable or non-curative, so they only relieve symptoms. The result? Patients with various functional limitations, reduced life expectancy, a continuous need for care from caregivers, family or friends, lifelong pain and little or no ability to participate in society. These diseases do not only affect patients. They affect us all.

New scientific breakthroughs in the field of gene therapy are taking place right now. In modern gene therapy, disease-causing stem cells are isolated from a patient, corrected by genetic modification and, then placed back into the body. Is the treatment successful? Then a patient can be cured for life. Unfortunately, these modern treatments are not available or accessible to most patients. Life-saving breakthroughs are being held back, not by a lack of scientific knowledge or technology, but by obstacles in legislation and regulations, low social acceptance, profit-driven healthcare companies and insurers and government ignorance of the latest insights. So, the big problem today is not technological. It's societal.

Want to know more about the scientific background of Cure4Life? search the websites of our scientists.

• Coördinator prof. dr. Frank Staal
• Prof. dr. Niels Geijsen
• Dr. W.W.M. Pim Pijnappel
• Dr. Jarno Hoekman
• Dr. Renske ten Ham
• Dr. Lourens Bloem
• Prof. dr. Meike Bartels
• Prof. dr. Miriam Sombroek-van Doorm
• Dr. Sam Riedijk
• Dr. Martie Verschuren

we believe that good people make a better world.

Cure4Life is a collaborative project. We strengthen relationships and work together with everyone affected by this topic.

We think across borders and boundaries: social scientists are making great strides in our labs, while biomedical scientists are further initiating the public debate and interact with societal scholars.

These crossovers bring new and radical ways of working together. Collaborations that are necessary to achieve the intended social change.

Coming together to achieve things that cannot be done alone

In March 2022, €5.5 million was awarded by NWO to Cure4Life: a consortium led by the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), which collaborates with VU Amsterdam, Avans Hogeschool, Erasmus MC, Leiden University, Radboud UMC, Utrecht University , patient associations Oscar Netherlands, Stichting Afweerstoornissen, VKS, Stichting Alexander, Zorginstituut Nederland, IPOPI and isco-financed by Batavia Biosciences, ISHEO, Spierziekten Nederland, Prinses Beatrix Spierfonds and Miltenyi Biotec. This group of passionate professionals, based in the Netherlands, supports the mission to make effective gene therapy treatments possible for every patient in need.

Mission

Providing everyone suffering from rare genetic diseases with access to a CURE FOR LIFE.

Cure4Life believes that potentially life-saving gene therapies should not be held back except for lack of quality, safety or efficacy.

Vision

Suffering from rare, genetic diseases should be a thing of the past.

Cure4Life envisions a society in which modern gene therapies are available to everyone who benefits from them.

Effective collaboration only works when we are all on the same page. Our core values ​​therefore apply to us and to everyone we work with.

By naming these values...

• We inspire and motivate change
• We make it easier to make (difficult) choices
• We determine where our most important priorities lie
• We identify what everyone involved in Cure4Life has in common

It is important to regularly return to these values ​​so that we do not forget what we stand for and what others can hold us accountable for.

Together we are strong

Cure4Life is a platform and a network in which different disciplines come together to accelerate social progress. Experience and expertise are shared, so that ideas are collected and adopted better and faster, by many different bright minds.

We hold nothing back

Radical solutions can only exist if we are open to new ideas. We therefore do not think in terms of boundaries, titles or boxes: every experience or expertise is equally valuable to Cure4Life. We share our knowledge and our responsibility.

We share a drive for change

Cure4Life will exist for 5 years. This means that there is no time to lose in achieving the desired future now.

• EVERYONE INVOLVED IN CURE4LIFE IS COMMITTED TO MAKING (AND KEEPING) MODERN GENE THERAPY ACCESSIBLE
  • Also if you are with a commercial company.
• EVERYTHING WE DO IS OPEN ACCESS AND OPEN SOURCE.
  • This also includes the official publications and software that we develop.
• EVERYTHING WE DO IS PATIENT PEOPLE FOCUSED.
  • We continuously co-create and collaborate with people affected by the diseases we fight together.

Get in touch. Do you have questions or comments? Let us know