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

Development of a novel analgesic for chronic pain from marine-derived compounds

Project description

Novel drug for chronic pain from marine-derived compounds

The medications available for moderate to severe chronic pain may provide pain relief but have strong side effects such as nausea and dizziness. The opioids used to control pain cause dependence, affecting cognition, motivation and mobility. Portugal-based company Sea4Us applies biotechnological innovations to exploit marine-derived compounds for the development of pharmaceuticals. The company’s research has demonstrated the many benefits of such compounds, including in the development of a high efficacy analgesic (ion channel modulator) with reduced toxicity and limited side effects for chronic pain sufferers. The EU-funded Sea4Pain project will take on a technological feasibility study as well as market, business model and intellectual property assessments, and prepare a work plan for the next phase of the development process.

Objective

"The Sea4Pain project will expand and define the development strategy for Sea4Us’s “Drug Discovery and Development Platform” – a platform that applies novel biotechnological approaches to exploit marine derived compounds for the development of novel pharmaceuticals highly relevant for biomedicine. The first lab-based research results have clearly demonstrated the benefits of marine compounds in a series of pathologies, like chronic pain, and the huge potential of its derivate products in the health market. In particular, our innovative breakthroughs will lead to the development of a unique, high efficacy analgesic (ion channel modulator), with reduced toxicity and limited side-effects (Sea4Pain). This extremely innovative approach shows a differentiated mode-of-action (acting directly in the ""pain switch""), that will give rise to a new class of pharmaceutical drugs with no expected adverse effects on the brain (currently being patented). The disruptive compound will modulate specific ion channels in pain-sensing neurons (Kv), for which there is no known modulator, and ease the suffering of one fifth of the World's population who constantly suffer from chronic pain. Sea4Pain will offer alternative treatments for patients suffering from moderate to severe chronic pain. Current drugs in the market (opioid derivatives and others) do alleviate pain but co-inflict important noxious effects (habituation, addiction, loss of drive) and great loss in quality of life. The global pain management drugs and devices market was estimated to be worth $38 billion in 2015 and reach $51 billion in 2022 at a CAGR of 4%. Founded in 2013, Sea4Us has received over 525.000€ in Portuguese and European Research Grants, raised 10.000€ with crowdfunding, and 250.000€ in venture capital, supporting a team of 13 professionals and is focused on developing the Sea4Pain roll-to-market of innovative treatments."

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

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.

SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

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) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

SEA4US - BIOTECNOLOGIA E RECURSOS MARINHOS, S.A.
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
PORTO DE PESCA DA BALEEIRA ARMAZEM 8
8650-368 SAGRES
Portugal

See on map

SME

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

Yes
Region
Continente Algarve Algarve
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
My booklet 0 0