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Ground breaking 3D cell culture platform to eliminate animal testing in pharmaceuticals

Project description

Novel 3D cell culture platform to substitute animals in the preclinical testing

More than 85 % of early clinical trials currently fail despite promising results in preclinical in vitro testing. The main reason is associated with in vitro 2D cell cultures that do not recapitulate the living body environment. Consequently, preclinical animal testing remains a benchmark, despite the associated cost and ethical concerns. The Czech company InoCure is developing a unique 3D scaffolding platform for in vitro cell culture with a drug delivery embedded system. The goal is to significantly improve preclinical-to-clinical translation efficiency while providing an alternative to animal testing models. The EU-funded DifMATRIX project aims to accomplish the feasibility study, evaluating the legal, economic and technical viability of the technology introduction to the market.

Objective

The use of in-vitro testing (in simulated environment) is the future of drug development, cancer research and medical research in general since it overcomes the practical and ethical issues associated with human and animal experimentation. However, as much as 85% of early clinical trials currently fail despite successful preclinical in-vitro testing; in the case of clinical cancer trials it is less than 8%. The main reason for such low success rates is that currently used 2D cells do not behave the same in living bodies as in cultures. As a consequence, animal testing continues to be widespread despite the associated cost and strong ethical concerns it raises. This is also extremely costly in time and resources which raise consumer prices for life-saving medications.
InoCure is addressing this problem with the DifMATRIX - a unique 3D scaffolding platform with drug delivery embedded system, for cell culture used in molecular biology and tissue engineering. DifMATRIX enables to simulate natural cell phenotype (in vivo) in the in-vitro environment. It redefines in-vitro preclinical testing standards, significantly improving preclinical-to-clinical translation efficiency and provide an alternative to animal testing models. The predicted impact of the project is to eliminate the animal testing phase from the drug development process.
The project is well aligned with new trends in cell and tissue culture supplier market. Globally, this market is witnessing significant growth due to increasing demand for biopharmaceuticals and increasing R&D in this field. The global cell/tissue engineering supplies market is expected to reach $28 billion in 2020. The market demand for DifMATRIX has been confirmed by customers currently using our passive InoMATRIX product, and by the letters of intent from prospective customers.
Following the proposed Phase 1, Inocure target is to apply for the Phase 2 project to scale-up the production and launch commercialisation of DifMATRIX.

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

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Call for proposal

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

(opens in new window) H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017

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Coordinator

INOCURE SRO
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.

€ 50 000,00
Address
POLITICKYCH VEZNU 935/13
11000 Praha
Czechia

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Česko Praha Hlavní město Praha
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding 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.

€ 71 429,00
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