The CEO, Dr Wilfried Stücker, founded the Immun-Onkologisches Zentrum Koln (IOZK) in 1985. In collaboration with various doctors and scientists, he developed the IOZK Immunotherapy and established the treatment centre and laboratories.

Stefaan Van Gool MD PhD is a specialist in pediatric hemato-oncology with a focus on brain tumours. He is the Head of Translational Oncology at the IOZK. He spent many years at the University Clinic in Leuven and at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, where he conducted research on the use of vaccines against cancer and published many studies. He leads the team of doctors at the IOZK and is responsible for planning and implementing the IOZK Immunotherapy.

The scientific side of the IOZK is headed by Prof Dr rer nat Volker Schirrmacher. He spent over 30 years conducting research at the Deutsche Krebsforschungszentrum (German Cancer Research Centre) in Heidelberg, where he led the Department of Cellular Immunology. He is an internationally recognised pioneer of immunotherapy for cancer, specialising in oncolytic viruses. Together with the scientists and doctors at the IOZK, he works on systematically integrating new scientific findings to further develop the IOZK Immunotherapy.

The IOZK is a treatment centre with its own laboratory in the city centre of Cologne in Germany. Each case of cancer is unique and requires a complex analysis and a treatment plan tailored to the patient. For this reason, IOZK team plans the IOZK-Immunotherapy for each patient individually and produce a personalised treatment plan, in order to mobilise the body’s own immune response, thus enabling it to take up the fight against the tumour growth itself.

Through repeated vaccination with IO-VAC®, the immune system of the patient is activated and enabled to detect and uncover the camouflage mechanisms of the tumour cells and to take action against these. Here dendritic cells, acting as messengers, and a virus that is not harmful to humans, play the key roles.

The IOZK-Immunotherapy can be coordinated with other therapies such as surgery, radiation or chemotherapy, if necessary.

The therapy is highly personalised, and therefore, the costs will vary for each patient. However, the following is a good indication:
– laboratory tests required prior to treatment €4,100 – €6,000
– IO-VAC® vaccination cycle €23,000 – €28,000 (min 2 vaccination cycles)
– a five-day treatment session to induce immunogenic cell death €6,000 – €11,000
– any additional costs for individual medication (infusions)

Immunotherapy