OREANDA-NEWS. The Robert Bosch Hospital (RBK), the Robert Bosch Stiftung, and the Bosch Group are joining forces to fight cancer. The three partners have formed an alliance and started several initiatives. The alliance’s core elements are the newly established Robert Bosch Centrum fur Tumorerkrankungen (RBCT: Robert Bosch tumor center) in Stuttgart and the planned alliance with the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ: German center for cancer research). Representatives of RBK and DKFZ signed a declaration of intent to this effect on July 18, 2016. To support the establishment of the RBCT, the Robert Bosch Stiftung is making extra funding available. It already provides the RBK with basic funding for medical research projects. Between now and 2020, 24 million euros will be devoted specifically to cancer research. Effective immediately, the Bosch Group will also give its associates with cancer access to the latest diagnostic methods offered by the RBK and the DKFZ. It will make roughly one million euros available each year for this purpose. “The hospital, Stiftung, and company are all part of the Bosch world and share the values of Robert Bosch. He was a role model of social responsibility, setting up the Robert Bosch Hospital in 1940. With our alliance against cancer, we are now continuing this commitment to healthcare, each partner according to the means at its disposal,” said Professor Joachim Rogall, managing director of the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

Incidence of cancer continues to rise
This move is prompted by the continuing significant increase in the incidence of cancer worldwide. The World Health Organization expects the annual incidence of the disease to rise to some 20 million by 2025. In 2012, the figure was already 14 million. Across the globe, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death. In Germany alone, some 224,000 people die of cancer each year.

Latest research findings for the best possible treatment
The new RBCT will be a part of the Robert Bosch Hospital, with the joint research with DKFZ in particular reinforcing its cancer-research activities. At the RBK, cancer patients will be treated in partnership with the university hospital in T?bingen. This partnership, known as the Comprehensive Cancer Center T?bingen-Stuttgart, has been running successfully since 2014. “In close exchange with the T?bingen university clinic and the DKFZ, we want to use modern precision oncology to offer patients individualized treatment. This will take account of the latest cancer-research findings, and thus offer the most promising form of treatment,” said Professor Mark Dominik Alscher, medical director of the Robert Bosch Hospital. “The comprehensive funding will be used to set up a research center and to hire additional experts for the medical team. In addition, it is planned to set up two endowed chairs to support research activity in this field.”

Patients benefit from rapid transfer of research findings
“We are pleased to have such a strong partner in the form of this Bosch alliance,” says Professor Michael Boutros, the acting scientific head of the DKFZ. “By setting up new endowed chairs, we want to drive forward innovative cancer research that will benefit patients.” With a staff of more than 3,000, the DKFZ is Germany’s largest biomedical research institute. At the DKFZ, more than 1,000 scientists research the causes of cancer, register cancer risk factors, and explore new strategies for preventing cancer development. They come up with new methods for diagnosing tumors more precisely and treating cancer patients more successfully. Together with the university clinic in Heidelberg, the DKFZ has set up the Nationales Centrum f?r Tumorerkrankungen (NCT: national tumor center), where promising approaches from cancer research are applied in clinical practice. The combination of excellent cancer treatment with the DKFZ’s high-caliber research plays an important role in improving cancer patients’ prospects.

Bosch offers program to support company associates
In the future, the Bosch Group intends to offer associates with cancer support that goes beyond the standard care offered by statutory health insurance. “As a company dedicated to an ‘Invented for life’ ethos, we and our partners are taking up the fight against cancer,” said Volkmar Denner, the Bosch CEO. Effective immediately, associates with cancer will have access to the latest diagnostic tests at the RBK, paid for by the company. As part of the OncoCure initiative, this offer will initially be open to associates in Germany. Later, it is to be extended to the workforce worldwide. For this purpose, the company is making roughly one million euros available annually. “Our objective is clear: we want to use precision diagnostics to improve the prospects of successful cancer treatment. This will help the associates affected, their families, their friends, and not least their colleagues. In this, we see ourselves as following in the footsteps of our founder Robert Bosch,” Denner said.