Periodic Reporting for period 5 - ESCulab (European Screening Centre; Unique Library for Attractive Biology)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2022-12-01 do 2023-11-30
RP3 and RP4 were marked by a steady influx of programmes, and further detailing of the sustainability strategy of the initiative. RP5 was marked by the finalisation of all the programmes, a final boost towards the recruitment of the charity funded screens (CFS), and decisions on the final sustainability strategy.
In total 112 EFPIA and 5 MMV programmes were nominated. Of these, 109 were accepted into the ELF portfolio, and for 79 programmes the QHL was delivered.
The European scientific community submitted 62 proposals for screening. Of these, 9 were HCS proposals. 38 were accepted into the portfolio. Recruitment was closed in January 2022. The accepted programmes show a good coverage of different therapeutic areas and diseases (fig. 2), as well as the type of organisation (fig. 3). For the crowdsourced programmes, 26 programmes reached QHLs, and the programme owners can use the compounds released with the QHL for further exploitation.
Significant progress was also made on the sustainability of the ELF, and the strategy has been further developed during RP5. For the recruitment of CFS, active discussions with both charities as well as programme owners have taken place. We promoted the CFS opportunity at international meetings, linked to the CFS, a Dutch assay development fund was launched to support scientists in the Netherlands working with a charity or foundation on an early drug discovery project.
In the final period of the project it became clear that there was not enough support from partners nor were other funding sources available to continue sharing the compound collection and keep the infrastructure running for a 3 years post-term period. To ensure a controlled closing of the ELF and adequate delivery on the QHLs of running programmes, we decided to wind down the ELF, and not establish the envisioned ELF foundation. 2 EFPIA partners will continue compound sharing for another 6 months, to allow them to finalise a few pending programmes. The closing of the ELF marks the end of a highly successful partnership, that has made significant contributions to the European drug discovery ecosystem for over a decade.
The results, impact and lessons learned from the ELF were captured in a final report for the general public (https://elfendofprojectreport.europeanleadfactory.eu) Fig. 4 summarizes the key outcomes achieved after 11 years of ELF.
Taking academic and biotech research programmes to the next stage created value, jobs, and when resulting in new therapies, will improve global health. A validated portfolio of new starting points for drug discovery, addressing unmet medical needs, is an attractive proposition for venture capital and corporate funds. Through this, a multitude of starting points for new drug candidates have been generated serving the needs of patients for effective therapies.
An example of this is how ELF under ESCulab contributed to finding novel treatments against SARS-CoV-2. In response to the pandemic, ELF prioritized programmes addressing COVID-19, implementing a fast-track for review and execution. One of these programmes resulted in high-quality hits. The novel hit series and associated high-quality biological data formed the foundation of a successful proposal to access the medicinal chemistry services available within EU-OPENSCREEN partner sites. This paved the way for the continuation of the programme towards hit-to-lead phase.
The ESCulab library itself had a direct impact on core activities of the participating EFPIA companies to find new drugs in high throughput screening. In addition, the partnership and the newly established networks will continue beyond the end of the project. The successful collaboration helps to change the mindset of pharma companies to work together to find new drugs for patients in a pre-competitive space.
The process from hit identification to testing in the clinic can easily take a decade. As such, we are delighted to see that programmes started under the first tier of ELF funding have recently entered clinical testing. In 3-5 years from now, we expect some of the ESCulab programmes to reach similar milestones.