PRESS RELEASE
Genetic test makes individualised breast cancer treatment possible:
Laura van ’t Veer receives European Inventor Award 2015 in SMEs
category
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The European Patent Office (EPO) honours Dutch scientist Laura van ’t
Veer for her development of a ground-breaking genetic test

Her patented procedure reduces the need for post-surgery
chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer

Treatment results improve thanks to personalised diagnosis

Test has aided more than 40 000 women worldwide in choosing the
therapy best for them
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EPO President Battistelli: “Predictive genetic testing makes
individualised breast cancer treatment possible.”
Paris/Munich, 11 June 2015 – Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among
women. In 2012 alone, more than 1.7 million women worldwide were diagnosed with the lifethreatening illness. Even when doctors are able to successfully remove a tumour, in most
cases follow-up chemotherapy treatment is prescribed in order to reduce the risk of
recurrence. But till now many women received the treatment unnecessarily, because not all
of them are actually at risk for recurrence. Thanks to the invention of Laura van ’t Veer, this
sort of generalised prognosis is now a thing of the past. The Dutch scientist developed a
gene-based tissue test that can give women in the early stages of breast cancer a clear and
reliable prognosis of whether or not chemotherapy is actually necessary for their recovery.
Patients who have a lower risk of recurrence are able to recover and stay tumour-free
without chemotherapy. With this test, the 58-year-old inventor has marked a true milestone in
the treatment of breast cancer. For her outstanding achievement, the European Patent Office
(EPO) honoured Laura van ’t Veer with the European Inventor Award in the “Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)” category today in Paris. The prestigious award, now in its
10th year, is presented annually by the EPO to recognise outstanding inventors who have
made an exceptional contribution to social development, technological progress and
economic growth.
“Van ’t Veer’s development has revolutionised cancer diagnostics by making it possible for
treatments to be tailored to the individual needs of each patient. This makes her one of the
most outstanding European inventors in the area of individualised medicine,” said EPO
President Benoît Battistelli today at the award ceremony, held at the Palais Brongniart, the
historical Paris stock exchange, in the presence of more than 400 guests from the worlds of
politics, economics and science.
Enabling a look inside the genes
When in 2001, the biologist and her team at the Netherlands Cancer Institute discovered that
a specific DNA signature made up of 70 genes is what determines the risk factor for the
recurrence of breast cancer in women, they used the findings to make a breakthrough in
medicine. Before this, doctors relied solely on the pathological findings, age of the patient
and number of divided cancer cells when deciding upon treatment. “We discovered that we
could identify a gene activity pattern in the tumours that would allow us to distinguish high
risk cases from low risk ones,” van ’t Veer says looking back. It was based on these findings
that she came up with the ground-breaking test together with her team. The test measures
the activity of tumour-specific DNA with the help of a microchip. Using just a small tissue
sample from the patient, the test can deliver results within 10 days and determine if the
patient is at high risk or not. “You can compare the activity of genes that are either switched
on or off. If the gene is switched on, the tumour is very aggressive. It invades the surrounding
tissue, travels through the body and can give rise to metastases in another organ. If those 70
genes are switched off, then the tumour will remain in its place and there is not much risk of
a reoccurrence,” she explains.
Remarkable economic value thanks to patent
After patenting her invention in 2001, Laura van ’t Veer founded a start-up called Agendia
with her research partner René Bernards. Today, with locations in Amsterdam and California,
the company is a global leader in the field of molecular diagnostics. In 2004 they brought the
test onto the market under the name MammaPrint and to date the technology has
empowered over 40 000 women in more than 30 countries with the information needed to
choose the right course of treatment for their breast cancer. “Using the MammaPrint in
clinical practice allows us to reduce the number of women who have to go through
chemotherapy by 20-30 percent,” says van ’t Veer. “A patient who is not likely to suffer from
a reoccurrence of cancer, would only suffer needlessly from chemo’s side effects, which can
include loss of hair and extreme lethargy.”
With over 230 scientific publications and a vast collection of awards for her achievements in
breast cancer research, van ‘t Veer is one of the best-known experts in the field. Today she
serves as Chief Research Officer at Agendia where she continues to research and further
develop cancer treatment with her team in Amsterdam. Since 2010, the Dutch scientist has
had her home base in San Francisco where she also works as a professor for Laboratory
Medicine at the University of California.
Media materials for Laura van ’t Veer:
Videos and photos
About the inventor
A look at the patent: EP1410011
Note to editors: availability of AV and photo materials on 11 June
Smart TV users can watch the show on-demand using the “Innovation TV” Smart TV
app of the European Patent Office.
The EPO will make audio-visual material of the ceremony and winners available in
SD quality on www.hellosports.com/inventions as follows:
15.30 CET: Handing over of the prize in the six categories: rough cuts
16.45 CET: Short interviews with the winners and EPO president (English)
18.00 CET: Highlights video “Best of the 2015 award” (English)
19:30 CET: Highlights video “Best of the 2015 award” (French/German)
Print-quality photos from the ceremony will be successively made during and after
the ceremony in the EPO Media Centre.
Further AV, photo and text materials about all 15 finalists can be found in the EPO
Media Centre.
Contacts:
Rainer Osterwalder
Director Media Relations
European Patent Office
Tel. +49 (0)89 2399 1820
rosterwalder@epo.org
Jana Kotalik
Press desk
European Patent Office
Tel: +49 (0)30/25901 330
Mobile: +49 15154403997
jkotalik@epo.org
Janneke van Amsterdam
Shepard Fox Communications Netherlands
Tel. +31 641 29 10 56
janneke.vanamsterdam@shepard-fox.com
Ellen Wonder
Shepard Fox Communications Netherlands
Tel. +31 654 33 88 60
ellen.wonder@shepard-fox.com