NORTHBROOK, Ill., Nov. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Astellas Oncology today announced that Hernâni Oliveira of Porto, Portugal, has been chosen as the Grand Prize Winner of the second annual C³ Prize, a global challenge that acknowledges and supports non-medicine innovations aimed at improving the cancer care experience for patients, caregivers and their loved ones. Oliveira pitched his idea alongside four other finalists to a panel of judges and spectators earlier this week during the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) World Cancer Leaders' Summit (WCLS) in Mexico City.

"Each of the five C³ Prize ideas presented live in Mexico City has the potential to address real unmet needs for patients living with cancer, their caregivers and their loved ones," said Mark Reisenauer, senior vice president, Oncology Business Unit, Astellas. "The Astellas Oncology C³ Prize aligns with our mission and vision to enable cancer patients to focus on living, and I look forward to seeing how these ideas to change cancer care may make a tangible, day-to-day difference in the lives of those affected by the disease."

Oliveira's entry, the HOPE PROJECT, consists of a two-part app developed to help pediatric cancer patients and their parents solve issues related to medication adherence and the sedentary lifestyle of children who are diagnosed with cancer, as well as help parents further understand and explain complex cancer treatment procedures.

"In the past few years, several studies presented an association between increased physical activity levels in childhood cancer patients and an improvement in quality of life during hospitalization," said Oliveira. "In particular, physical functioning is increased, anxiety is reduced and social integration is encouraged. Considering the fact that this plays a vital role in physiological and psychosocial development, therapeutic exercise in pediatric oncology is particularly important to creating a better body response to treatments."

During the live pitch session, the judges assessed the ideas based on plausibility, creativity and originality, and ability to operationalize/implement the innovative idea for future application. In addition to the Grand Prize Winner, the four runners-up are:

• Kevin Bambury of Killarney, Ireland, ONCOassist, which has developed an interactive informational app designed to contain all of the tools oncology professionals need at point of care to help diagnose and manage treatment.
• Howard Isenstein of Bethesda, Maryland, Care Progress, whose app CarePrompter aims to improve patient navigation, adherence and care coordination by prompting patients to check in with their clinicians frequently on a wide range of topics.
• Cory Kidd of San Francisco, California, Catalia Health, which has developed the Mabu Wellness Coach Platform featuring an AI-powered companion robot that incorporates psychology, evidenced-based healthcare solutions and artificial intelligence to help patients better manage their care.
• Charlotte Vander Stichele of Antwerp, Belgium, Mindbytes, whose Cancer Patient Decision Aid (CADA) would provide patients with an interactive scenario-based decision-support tool, complete with information on disease burden, treatment impacts and the various decision-points during care.

For more information, visit www.C3Prize.com.

About Astellas
Astellas is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. For more information on Astellas, please visit our website at www.astellas.us. You can also follow us on Twitter at @AstellasUS, Facebook at www.facebook.com/AstellasUS or LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/astellas-pharma.

About UICC
The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) is dedicated to taking the lead in convening, capacity building and advocacy initiatives that unite the cancer community to reduce the global cancer burden, promote greater equity, and integrate cancer control into the world health and development agenda.

Founded in 1933 and based in Geneva, Switzerland, UICC is the largest and oldest international cancer organisation. With over 1,000 members and 56 partners across 162 countries, UICC features the world's major cancer societies, ministries of health, research institutes, patient groups, and industry leaders.

For more information, visit www.uicc.org.

About MATTER
MATTER is a community of entrepreneurs, innovators and industry leaders working together to harness technology to improve health and healthcare. MATTER connects and promotes collaboration between entrepreneurs, scientists, physicians, investors and industry leaders in order to bring next-generation products and services to market that improve quality of care and save lives. For more information, visit www.matterchicago.com.

SOURCE Astellas Pharma Inc.