Project description
Innovative devices for tomorrow’s in vitro drug testing
Developing new medicines is complicated and comes with a hefty price tag. Particularly in oncology, the success rate is less than 4 %. In fact, 80 % of drug candidates fail in the early clinical phases and this is after 5-7 years of research. To reverse this trend, researchers are addressing a lack of relevant, physiologic and easy-to-use in vitro models. The EU-funded Easy SOFT project aims to develop innovative devices to re-invent in vitro cell culture, scale them up to a pre-industrial stage and prepare them for commercialisation. Led by a woman scientist, Easy SOFT also aims to promote the integration of women in science and leadership roles.
Objective
Cell&Soft is a Deeptech company based in France (AURA region) which aims to develop, produce and sale innovative solutions for in vitro cell culture, in the field of oncology and stem cell research.
Pain point: Drug development process is very expensive, complex and suffers from many failures. In oncology, the average success rate is less than 4%. More than 80% of drug candidates fail in early clinical phases and this after 5 to 7 years of research. Thus, the efforts mobilized consume considerable human and financial resources, without result.
Opportunities: One of the most important challenges is the lack of reliable, reproducible, and easy-to-use in vitro models, allowing better predictability and/or reliable diagnosis.
Ambition: At Cell&Soft, our ambition is to re-invent in vitro cell culture, by developing innovative devices that act as steppingstones for tomorrow's drug candidates. The objective of Cell&Soft is to accelerate the discovery of new drugs with an average success rate of more than 20%, while limiting the use of animal models.
Easy SOFT project: The Women TechEU program is a great opportunity to achieve our ambition by accelerating the growth of Cell&Soft. The Easy SOFT project must allow us to (1) consolidate our added value by strengthening our POCs and IP financing, (2) prepare strategic and operational commercial deployments, and (3) allow a scale up to a pre-industrial stage to meet the Pharma companies at the international level.
Women empowerment: As a women scientist and CEO, I want to promote the integration of women in science and in leadership roles. I think I can challenge the status quo to create an environment where women can achieve their potential. Through the Women Leadership Program I want to deploy myself as a female mentor and gain access to new networks within the European innovation ecosystem.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.3.2 - European innovation ecosystems Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-AG-LS - HORIZON Lump Sum GrantCoordinator
38054 GRENOBLE
France
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.