Collaborative networks have been a driving force for innovation across the life sciences for decades. They connect universities, governments and venture capitalists to create conditions for the launch of new companies. The ecosystem around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, US, is probably the best-known incubator of new companies. Less common are ecosystems focused on a single therapeutic area. This is the unique feature of a new cluster in France called The Hive and Campus Grand Parc, located in outer Paris.
It was inaugurated with a conference on 4 June attended by biotech executives and investors from across Europe. The Hive, with about 25,000 square metres of new laboratory and office space, sits next to Gustave Roussy, Europe’s leading cancer center. The center’s two hospitals treat more than 54,000 cancer patients a year, including 2,760 children and adolescents. Of this number, 18,525 are inpatients requiring surgical procedures, or complex treatments. The balance are outpatients.
A significant feature of the inpatient population is their active participation in clinical trials. In 2025, some 23.4% of the hospital inpatients enrolled in a clinical trial and 17.1% participated in a molecular screening study. Data from these trials support cancer research. This data will become increasingly important as the campus expands, creating new space for research and product development.
What are the goals of the campus? Several speakers at the conference emphasised the need to scale up clinical research. Fabrice Barlesi, general director of Gustave Roussy, said the campus should help “industrialise serendipity.” This means working from a strong scientific foundation to produce candidate products which are tested continuously until a proof of concept is achieved. This is done through collaborations, but going forward artificial intelligence will play a big role. Professor Barlesi said the hospital’s goal is to achieve a cure rate, understood to be remission or long-term survival, for 80% of patients by 2040. The current rate is reported to be about 66%.
Among the companies to have signed up as occupants on the campus are Orano Med Theranostics LLC, a clinical stage company developing radiotherapeutics; Oraki Oncology SAS, which is investigating rare tumours; Valerio Therapeutics SA, which is working on antibody delivery and One Biosciences SAS, which is developing single-cell maps for cancer diagnosis.
The meeting featured a session on AI where panellists spoke about the need for quality data in drug discovery. Discussions also touched on Europe’s position in the global life sciences arena and competition from China. Jacques Volkmann, head of R&D for Sanofi France, said biotechs in Europe need to show speed and quality of science while developing European assets better. In response to the challenge from China, Charles Wolf, president of Initiative Pharma, a lobby group, said “we are not thinking as big as our science is deep.”
By Victoria English
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