Testimonial
The Erasmus Medical Breakthrough Fund supports promising medical innovations at the Erasmus MC. One of its unique characteristics is that donors can become investors. the Erasmus Medical Breakthrough Fund was started by Stephan Nanninga, former CEO of SHV Holdings, and Frans van Houten, former CEO of Royal Philips.
Stephan Nanninga studied law at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. “In 2013, my wife was sick,” he says. “She suffered from metastatic melanoma, a severe diagnosis. Thanks in part to an experimental trial in immunotherapy, she lived for another three years. Her doctor at the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital told us that there were additional promising medical concepts which still lacked proper funding.”
This presented Nanninga with a new mission. He asked the Board of Directors of the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital to present promising projects to him. “I had three criteria,” he explains. “The projects had to positively affect society, the intellectual ownership had to remain with the hospital, and I needed to be able to understand it, even though I have no medical background. We selected four projects, and I spent nine months finding donors. They donated at least 100.000 euros each, dedicated completely to medical research. No expenses were made for marketing or administration.”
The format offered donors the opportunity to invest in the project if it became commercially viable. An approach that quickly proved its mettle: “We copied the method to the LUMC in Leiden and the Erasmus University Rotterdam.”
From science to practice
Frans van Houten studied economy at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. “As CEO of Philips I saw that a lot of promising innovations never happened, purely due to financial challenges. A good publication can’t help patients: it’s only the start. There are many challenges, such as running clinical trials, all of which cost a lot of money. The support from the Erasmus Medical Breakthrough Fund sustains research teams for two years, and grants them access to other investors.”
Van Houten: “The four projects we selected have all the right ingredients: brilliant scientific ideas, entrepreneurship, innovation… And of course, the Erasmus Trustfonds has a lot of experience in facilitating these processes. This helps us keep our foot on the gas.” Nanninga adds: “We keep donors closely involved, creating something of a network.”
Learn, earn, return
“We need to normalize donations to our alma mater,” says Van Houten. “The Erasmus Trustfonds has demonstrated what we can accomplish. The medical field has so much potential for innovation. That’s why it’s so important to bring funding to the Erasmus MC.” Nanninga adds: “Take melanoma. A decade ago, the mortality rate was immense. Today, innovations we never dreamt of enable us to cure people from this disease.”
