The “PharmaNL Shared Development Infrastructure” project has officially started its funding round.

News October 8, 2024

The project “Advancing the Cure: Efficient Screening to Optimize Early-Stage Drug Discovery (ACESO)” will soon commence under the leadership of Judith Rasmussen-Dietvorst, as part of the PharmaNL Shared Development Infrastructure program. This program focuses on creating infrastructure for pharmaceutical products and technologies to advance drug development.

Goal of the Funding Round

The PharmaNL Shared Development Infrastructure (SDI) Call 2023-1 is the first funding round within the PharmaNL SDI program line. This program line aims to establish advanced infrastructure (such as laboratory equipment) for shared use by pharmaceutical start-ups, scale-ups, and academic research groups. The creation of such infrastructure is crucial for strengthening the pharmaceutical value chain, as the required R&D facilities and services are currently either unavailable or insufficient, and cannot be established through regular market mechanisms.

The projects funded through this round will contribute to the expansion and strengthening of pharmaceutical hubs, knowledge institutions, and companies with future-proof equipment. This, in turn, will lead to more efficient and effective development of new drugs and production technologies, shorter lead times, and reduced costs in the pharmaceutical sector.

Approved Projects

ACESO

Judith Rasmussen-Dietvorst – Pivot Park Screening Centre in collaboration with TropIQ Health Sciences, Oncolines, and Saillant Therapeutics

High-Throughput Screening (HTS) is a critical strategy for identifying chemical compounds that serve as starting points for the development of new drugs. However, integrating innovative solutions into HTS processes is essential to meet the changing demands of the market. We aim to enhance the existing screening infrastructure by implementing advanced automation, assay technologies, and software solutions, with the goal of accelerating the ‘early drug discovery’ projects of our global clients. By eliminating unnecessary hardware and expanding our core capabilities, we seek to achieve these objectives through collaboration with our equipment and software suppliers.

Additionally, we will compare our capabilities with those of the ACESO partners through various case studies. Within the ACESO consortium, Pivot Park Screening Centre collaborates with TropIQ Health Sciences, Oncolines, Saillant Therapeutics, and other regional early-stage drug discovery service providers, biotech companies, and third-party service providers.

Nanoworx

Prof. Dr. Willem Mulder – TU Eindhoven in collaboration with Trained Therapeutix Discovery and Pivot Park Screening Centre

To fully harness the potential of nanomedicine, the translation of experimental concepts into innovative nanomedicines for patients must be refined. This requires establishing a knowledge and production infrastructure in the field of nanomedicine. By generating nanomedicine libraries, high-throughput screening can identify formulations with the desired properties. The production of these “lead” candidates must then be scaled up in accordance with pharmaceutical quality guidelines. Currently, such knowledge and production infrastructure is only available at large biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Nanoworx integrates advanced equipment and unique expertise to assist research groups and biotech companies in developing, screening, optimizing, and scaling up innovative nanomedicine-based drugs. Expertise and prototype development are provided by engineers and scientists from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). Automated production, library construction, and formulation characterization take place at TU/e. To facilitate clinical translation, Nanoworx, in collaboration with Pivot Park Screening Centre, guides clients in scaling up GMP-compliant production. In addition to biotech startups and larger companies, Nanoworx also serves academic institutions and consortia. Nanoworx is designed to collaborate closely with its clients, ensuring that all knowledge gained is transferred to the client.

G2 Solutions

Prof. Dr. Ir. Floris Foijer – G2 Solutions in collaboration with UMCG, GenomeScan, LIFE Cooperative, and Pivot Park Screening Centre

Many drugs are not equally effective for all patients, and a significant number of patients develop resistance to treatments, particularly in chronic or complex diseases such as cancer. Recent technological advancements now allow for better mapping and replication of diseases in the laboratory, making such technologies essential for improved drug development.

G2 Solutions utilizes these technologies to accurately map diseases and create patient-specific models. These efforts are combined to establish an infrastructure for drug development, which will be made available to Dutch pharmaceutical and academic partners. Additionally, G2 Solutions will use this infrastructure to collaborate with Pivot Park Screening Centre in discovering new drugs. The University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) will provide staff, equipment, and laboratory space for this initiative, while GenomeScan, LIFE Cooperative, and Pivot Park Screening Centre will assist in marketing these services both nationally and internationally.

More information

Programmapagina PharmaNL Shared Development Infrastructure
Programmapagina PharmaNL