Bodegas Muga donates €75,000 to fund brain cancer research

Spanish wine producer Bodegas Muga is backing important clinical research into brain tumours in children.

Bodegas Muga has donated a cheque for €75,000 towards a “vital” research project that tackles a particularly aggressive form of cerebral cancer in children.

The Spanish winery raised the cash through its 300 Club, a social responsibility initiative created by Muga, and presented the CRIS Cancer Foundation, a children’s charity in Madrid, with the sum, which will be put towards facilitating the project.

Isaac Muga, winemaker at Bodegas Muga, said he felt “very proud to be able to make a contribution in an area of such vital importance as research into childhood cancer. Both the Muga family and the members of the 300 Club are aware that the only solution for controlling this disease is to give researchers resources and bring together the best specialists in the field so as to reduce infant mortality due to this disease”.

Dr. Antonio Pérez, a paediatrician oncologist, will lead the CRIS Advanced Therapies Research Unit in the cancer research, which focuses on medulloblastoma, the most common malign brain tumour among children.

Despite modern treatment, 30-40% of kids with this form of brain cancer suffer relapses or metastasis, for which there are very few effective treatments. The most promising treatments for this type of tumour can be found among cellular therapies, which will form part of the team’s research.

A phase 1 clinical trial will be conducted in which GABI cells are used to treat childhood medulloblastoma patients in relapse. These cells have already shown a high degree of effectiveness in the laboratory in terms of identifying and destroying brain cell tumours.

The team will then work to improve what they describe as ‘natural killer cells’ which will battle against the cancer.

To do this, an innovative therapy is being laboratory-tested based on CAR cellular technology, with the aim of forming a future clinical trial in patients with medulloblastoma.

Lola Manterola, president of the CRIS Cancer Foundation, said that the organisation “has been working for 12 years, thanks to the contribution of society, in order to reach our zero cancer goal. This includes promoting trans-national research projects which are at the forefront of knowledge, and providing resources to the best researchers in search of treatments which manage to cure cancer.”

Furthermore, Bodegas Muga has designed a limited-edition wine label and case to pay homage to children who are fighting cancer.

All profits generated from these will go towards the CRIS Cancer Foundation.