Objective Obesity is one of the most serious and fast-growing health problem in the European Union, and a leading cause of diabetes. The main barrier for approval of an anti-obesity drug is the safety requirements. We propose to overcome this barrier by discovering phenotypes and biomarkers that identify subsets of patients with safe and efficacious responses to drugs, and by identifying new indications of existing drugs with proven safety profiles. To be approved, anti-obesity drugs need to show a decrease in abdominal fat. We focus on approaches targeting directly abdominal fat cells. In the last years only the cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonist Rimonabant has been approved as a therapeutic agent to combat complicated obesity. Research performed with this drug has clearly revealed a role for the endogenous cannabinoid system in controlling energy homeostasis. However, its utility is limited to a restricted set of patients. A new phenotype and/or biomarker may identify responsive patients with good safety profiles. This proposal aims to discover novel or improved treatments in the shortest possible timeframe through three synergistic Specific Aims: 1) Clinical phenotyping of obese patients to identify those that would benefit from existing therapies such as Rimonabant. 2) Discover biomarkers for subsets of obese patients that may correlate with therapeutical outcomes. These biomarkers will be discovered by a novel approach called Combinatorial Cytomic Biomarkers developed by OrphaMed, applied to cells from two physiologically interlinked sources: blood and abdominal-fat samples, extracted from the above phenotyped patients. 3) Identify new indications of existing drugs, alone or in combination, with potential anti-obesity efficacy by lowering the fat content and the glucose uptake of abdominal fat cells, which would be expected to improve carbohydrate/lipid metabolism and lower body weight, extracted from the above phenotyped patients. This will be accomplished by screening approximately 2.000 known drugs against these fat cells using the novel technology platform “ExviTech” from OrphaMed. Candidates would be evaluated in animal models of obesity. Fields of science medical and health sciencesclinical medicineendocrinologydiabetesnatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculeslipidsmedical and health sciencesbasic medicinephysiologyhomeostasismedical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutritionobesity Keywords Reprofiling anti-obesity drugs combinational cytomic biomarkers obesity biomarkers Programme(s) FP7-HEALTH - Specific Programme "Cooperation": Health Topic(s) HEALTH-2007-1.1-4 - SME-driven collaborative research projects for developing tools and technologies for high-throughput research HEALTH-2007-2.4.3-6 - Nutritional signals and the development of new diabetes/obesity therapeutic agents Call for proposal FP7-HEALTH-2007-B See other projects for this call Funding Scheme CP-TP - Collaborative Project targeted to a special group (such as SMEs) Coordinator FUNDACION PARA LA INVESTIGACION DE MALAGA EN BIOMEDICINA Y SALUD EU contribution € 594 005,00 Address CALLE SEVERO OCHOA 35, PARQUE TECNOLOGICO DE ANDALUCIA 29590 MALAGA Spain See on map Region Sur Andalucía Málaga Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Fernando Rodriguez De Fonseca (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Total cost No data Participants (6) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all VIVIA BIOTECH S.L. Spain EU contribution € 2 723 786,00 Address C SANTIAGO GRISOLIA 2 OFICINA 205 28760 TRES CANTOS MADRID See on map Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Administrative Contact Olivia De La Lama Noriega (Ms.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTE ET DE LA RECHERCHE MEDICALE France EU contribution € 505 440,00 Address RUE DE TOLBIAC 101 75654 Paris See on map Region Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Giovanni Marsicano (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data JOHANNES GUTENBERG-UNIVERSITAT MAINZ Germany EU contribution No data Address SAARSTRASSE 21 55122 Mainz See on map Region Rheinland-Pfalz Rheinhessen-Pfalz Mainz, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Beat Lutz (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA Italy EU contribution € 508 860,00 Address VIA ZAMBONI 33 40126 Bologna See on map Region Nord-Est Emilia-Romagna Bologna Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Alessandra Malavolta (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data UNIVERSIDAD DE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA Spain EU contribution € 505 919,00 Address COLEXIO DE SAN XEROME PRAZA DO OBRADOIRO S/N 15782 Santiago De Compostela See on map Region Noroeste Galicia A Coruña Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Fernando Sedano Arnaez (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data UNIVERSITAETSMEDIZIN DER JOHANNES GUTENBERG-UNIVERSITAET MAINZ Germany EU contribution € 561 402,00 Address Langenbeckstrasse 1 55131 Mainz See on map Region Rheinland-Pfalz Rheinhessen-Pfalz Mainz, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Uta Veith (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data