Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Developing and implementing VIrtual Control groups To reducE animal use in toxicology Research

Project description

Developing and validating virtual control groups in animal-based experiments

The reliance on animals for non-clinical drug and chemical safety evaluations poses ethical, economic and scientific challenges. With this in mind, the EU-funded VICT3R project aims to replace concurrent control groups (CCGs) usually required in regulatory studies with virtual control groups (VCGs). Specifically, VCGs leverage advanced statistical and AI techniques to analyse historical control data from various sectors, mainly from pharmaceutical companies, thereby reducing the need for live animals. To achieve this, the project will focus on data collection and curation, key variable identification, VCG generation and validation of the approach. Additionally, it will establish a robust, high-quality database and software platform to apply and expand the VCG concept, promoting ethical and efficient research practices.

Objective

VICT3R, a public-private partnership running under the European Innovative Health Initiative, aims to significantly reduce the number of animals used in experimental studies performed during the nonclinical drug and chemical safety evaluation by replacing the animals of the concurrent controls groups (CCGs) with Virtual Control Groups (VCGs). These VCGs will be generated by means of state-of-the-art statistical or artificial intelligence (AI) approaches that optimally exploit the wealth of historical data from control animals accumulated over decades by pharmaceutical companies and other relevant industrial and academic sectors. The VCG concept was conceived and prototyped during the recently finished eTRANSAFE IMI2 project for its application in the nonclinical safety assessment of the pharmaceutical industry. A preliminary evaluation of the VCG concept carried out in the eTRANSAFE project demonstrated that it is generally feasible, yet scientifically and operationally challenging and must therefore be refined before its adoption for regulatory hazard and risk assessment. The main challenges consist of adequate data collection and curation, identification of key variables to achieve optimal matching between VCGs and CCGs, and validation of procedures including compliance with Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). These challenges will be systematically tackled in VICT3R for achieving the full development and regulatory acceptance of the VCG concept. VICT3R will collect, curate and analyse large data sets of control animals from different species to produce a large high-quality database. The database will be made available to VICT3R partners, regulators, and policy makers with the purpose to allow maturation of the VCG concept and to prove its validity, reproducibility and robustness. While VICT3R will be primarily focused on repeated dose toxicity studies, the extension of the VCG concept to other types of studies involving animals will also be tackled. VICT3R will promote that its database and software platform is maintained and expanded long term.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-JU-RIA - HORIZON JU Research and Innovation Actions

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-JU-IHI-2023-05

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 2 552 250,00
Address
PLACA DE LA MERCE, 10-12
08002 Barcelona
Spain

See on map

Region
Este Cataluña Barcelona
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 2 552 250,00

Participants (36)

Partners (8)

My booklet 0 0