Roparun invests €150,000 in Erasmus MC project

ROTTERDAM, 14 August 2026 – Stichting Roparun is donating €150,000 to Erasmus MC’s IndepenCEL project, an initiative intended to support the development of more accessible and potentially less burdensome cancer treatments. The contribution is unusual for Roparun, which normally focuses its funding on practical projects in palliative care rather than scientific research or medical treatments.

Roparun is making an exception because the foundation believes IndepenCEL could eventually improve quality of life for people with cancer in the palliative phase. The project aims to make high-quality cell lines available to academic hospitals, giving researchers a shared resource for developing new medicines and working on more affordable versions of innovative treatments.

Why Roparun is funding IndepenCEL

Roparun’s mission centres on improving quality of life for people with cancer, particularly when a cure is no longer possible. Its funding usually supports projects such as hospices, wish ambulances, wigs and holidays for patients and their families.

IndepenCEL falls outside that usual approach, but Roparun says the potential effect on patients fits closely with the same mission. If the research infrastructure ultimately contributes to treatments with fewer side effects or less physical strain, patients could have more time in which they feel well enough to spend meaningful moments with family and friends.

“Our mission is to add life to the days,” says Roparun director Lesly Wolters. “Normally, we do that by supporting projects in palliative care. In this case, we are investing in a medical development that serves exactly that same mission.”

“If this innovation leads to people experiencing less pain in the final phase of their lives, needing less burdensome treatments or maintaining a good quality of life for longer, then it fits precisely with what Roparun stands for.”

Building the first IndepenCEL cell line

The €150,000 contribution will be used to develop the first high-quality cell line within IndepenCEL. According to Erasmus MC and Roparun, the intention is to create a resource that researchers and academic hospitals can continue using over a longer period.

By making these cell lines available within the academic healthcare system, the project aims to reduce dependence on commercial providers during the development of medicines. In the longer term, that could help researchers develop new therapies and make existing innovative treatments more affordable and accessible.

The potential benefits are still future-facing. The investment does not mean that a new cancer treatment is immediately becoming available to patients. Instead, it funds part of the research infrastructure needed to develop and study treatments that may eventually be better tolerated or have fewer side effects.

Prof. Dr Hugo van der Kuy, head of the hospital pharmacy at Erasmus MC, says the connection with Roparun’s mission is an important part of the collaboration.

“Thanks to this investment, we can work towards treatments that will hopefully give patients fewer side effects and more precious moments with their loved ones,” Van der Kuy says. “It is an investment in hope.”

Focus on palliative cancer care

IndepenCEL is intended to strengthen cooperation between academic hospitals while supporting the development of more affordable and targeted cancer treatments. Roparun sees particular relevance for patients receiving palliative care, where quality of life can be just as important as the treatment itself.

The foundation has supported palliative care for people with cancer for 35 years. Money is raised through the annual Roparun, during which teams run and cycle from France and the Netherlands towards Rotterdam over the Pentecost weekend.

The 2026 Roparun raised more than €5 million. Registration for the 2027 edition opened on 1 August, with teams able to sign up through https://www.roparun.nl.

The IndepenCEL contribution shows Roparun taking a broader interpretation of its mission. Rather than funding only the care surrounding patients today, the foundation is also putting money into an innovation that could influence how palliative cancer treatment is delivered in the future.