Arthur D. Little Consultants carried out a study on the competitve position of the Midi-Pyrenees Biopole in 2003. This study found that Midi-Pyrenees is an emerging Biopole with centers of excellence in Health and Medicine, Health and Foods, Food and Industrial Agro-Biotechnologies with significant development potential.

HEALTH & MEDICINE

Three areas of excellence stand out in this domain: oncology-cancerology, neurosciences, and biological and biomedical engineering.

ONCOLOGY AND CANCEROLOGY

•  The CANCER-BIO-HEALTH Competitiveness cluster

The comprehensive study of cancer (concerning both healthy and ill populations) is the central mission of the Cancer-Bio-Health Cluster, which received its quality label on July 12, 2005 and presented its framework contract with the central government two months later.

Its aspirations will be backed by one of the greatest concentrations of research resources in Europe— centered around the Toulouse-Langlade Canceropole, currently under construction — extending in a triangle encompassing Toulouse-Albi-Castres/Mazamet and including Limoges.

This cluster takes a comprehensive approach in the ongoing fight against cancer through an ethical, economic, and humanistic course of action.

The Cancer-Bio-Health competitiveness cluster presents 28 cooperative projects associating industry, research and care.

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• CANCEROPOLE (Cancer hub)

Within the context of the 2003-2007 Cancer Plan, a network of regional and inter-regional cancer research centers was created, associating hospitals and research units to develop transfer mechanisms from basic research to innovation. 

The Toulouse-Langlade Canceropole brings the Toulouse teams from the CHU, INSERM and CNRS together with their counterparts from Montpellier and Bordeaux to coordinate research. It forms part of the national network of 7 Cancer Hubs.
The hub is currently under construction on the Langlade site, Toulouse's former center of chemical industry, and wil bring together:
- two big R&D centers - Pierre Fabre and Sanofi-Aventis
- the new Institute for Advanced Life-Science Technologies (ITAV)
- a fledging-business center for Sciences and Life firms
- common services (a conference center, and accomodation for researchers).

Some of the companies involved in Oncology-Cancerology

AFFICHEM: dendrogenines, new steroids for cellular differentiation AVOGADRO: pharmaceutical analysis, bioanalytical chemistry, drug metabolism and in-life studies   GTP TECHNOLOGIES: production of recombinant proteins   GLAXOSMITHKLINE : leader in many therapeutic fields (vaccines, ...) NANOBIOTIX : nanotechnologies in cancer therapy applications NOVALEADS : molecular screening on living cells expressing membranous receptors PICOMETRICS : systems for detection of biological molecules using laser fluorescence - marker kits PIERRE FABRE MEDICAMENT: 30% of the R&D investment in oncology, creator of Navelbin® SANOFI-AVENTIS: 20% of products in development for cancerology indications

NEUROSCIENCES

The pharmaceutical groups in the region have around 300 people in this sector, and the research hub adds another 200. The region has:

Skills in in vivo and functional imaging  
A neuro-imaging platform (micro-nano electronics and signal processing with LAAS, CNES …), cognition sciences (cerco). Toulouse's University Hospital CHU is the 4^th French site to have a center of tomography by position emission (TEP SCAN). INSERM Toulouse is the national coordinator for the Flame program to measure the motor performances of the brain.

Clinical research skills
The CMRRs (Doctoral thesis study and research centers) of Toulouse, Montpellier, and Bordeaux are pooling their work on neurodegenerative diseases. They work within the EADC, European Network of Excellence on Alzheimer's, which brings together the 45 biggest European centers and is coordinated by Professor Vellas (CHU Toulouse). The Toulouse Center for Clinical Investigation (CIC) has particular competence in the neurosciences (Parkinson's disease).

A significant capacity for academic and private research
The Toulouse Institute of Brain Sciences (IFR 96) brings together the INSERM, CNRS, UPS, and Mirail laboratories with the research activiies of Pierre Fabre and Sanofi-Aventis.

BIOMEDICAL

The region has significant skills in bio-materials, robotics, scientific instrumentation, orthopedics, and other areas that interface with life sciences and engineering. Numerous start-ups have developed applications in theses areas. These companies form the SISMIP federation.

 

The region's « materials cluster » is very dynamic indeed. This cluster acts within the Regional Technological Research Network 3RT in Materials and Processes. Life sciences research, and aeronautical engineering laboratories such as CIRIMAT, part of the European "Autobone" program of tissue engineering, work together in this network. CIRIMAT characterizes and synthesizes the bio-mimetic calcium phosphate of synthtic bone production in vitro within the European "Autobone" program. 

 

A selection of Biomedical companies

EUROCRYSTAL: ophthlamologic surgery, implants, intramolecular lenses KASIOS: synthetic bone substitutes for use in orthopaedics, dentistry and cranio-maxillo-facial surgery MARION TECHNOLOGIES: ceramic powders and nanostructured materials for industrial use  S.B.M.: biological implants for bone surgery SINTERS: complex robotics for research and industry (automatic echography, skin sampling in reconstructive surgery ...). TEKNIMED: osteo-synthesized surgical materials, bone implants and bone institutes. URODELIA: new generation of bone substitutes

The region is also home to a range of quantitavely and qualitatively significant scientific activities in numerous disciplines which we are not portrayed in detail here. Examples involve the fieldsof cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, and hepatic/ gastro enterology, through organizations such as the CNRS, INSERM, and the faculties of medicine and pharmacy... The European Institute of Tele-medicine (IET) and the European Center for Research into Skin and covering Epitheliums (CERPER, a join Pierre Fabre, University Hospital Center laboratories) are also both based in the region and give it a European profile in these sectors.