Innovative Drug Discovery for New Therapies in Brain Tumors
North Rhine-Westphalia Supports Dortmund Consortium within the EFRE Funding Program “Gesünder.IN.NRW”

The State of North Rhine-Westphalia is supporting a research project aimed at developing novel therapeutic approaches against glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive and hard-to-treat brain tumor, using funds from the EFRE/JTF program “Gesünder.IN.NRW”. In the project “ReACT-GBM – Refining AKT-based Cancer Therapy for Glioblastoma,”
– the Dortmund start-up KyDo Therapeutics GmbH (KyDo),
– Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), and
– TU Dortmund University (Prof. Dr. Daniel Rauh’s research group) are working closely together.
 
At the core of this joint project is the development of innovative AKT inhibitors that are specifically optimized for the treatment of central nervous system tumors. The ReACT-GBM project aims to transfer these insights into the preclinical development of groundbreaking drug candidates.

This collaborative project brings together the complementary expertise of LDC, Prof. Rauh’s group at TU Dortmund University and KyDo, who coordinates the project. The entire early drug discovery pipeline is fully represented within the Dortmund consortium; from medicinal chemistry optimization of the new drug candidates to the development of innovative therapy strategies.
 
With the funding from “Gesünder.IN.NRW”, the state of NRW is specifically strengthening innovative biomedical research at the interface of science and application. The ReACT-GBM project is contributing to the development of urgently needed treatment options for patients suffering from glioblastoma, while also underlining North Rhine-Westphalia’s pioneering role in biomedical innovation.
 
ReACT-GBM started in January 2026. The NRW state government and the European Union are supporting the project over a period of three years.
© picture: Nikolas Golsch/TU Dortmund