The Champalimaud Foundation in Portugal and Shandong First Medical University in China are getting together to set up an institute to do research into the use of immunotherapy to treat cancer, Notícias de Coimbra reports.

The Portuguese newspaper quotes a written announcement issued by the foundation as saying the partners have agreed to invest US$100 million in the China-Europe Imunotechnology Institute.

The foundation says the university will accommodate the institute on its campus in eastern China, and solicit more investment by public and private bodies in the province of Shandong and further afield.

The institute will give Portugal a privileged position in an expanded arena of Sino-European joint medical research, the foundation says.

Champalimaud Foundation Vice-president João Silveira Botelho and Shandong First Medical University Communist Party of China Committee Secretary Han Jinxiang signed the agreement, Notícias de Coimbra says.