Disruptive GPCR Lead Discovery Platform Delivering New and Safer Therapeutics

Project Information

PICARD

Grant agreement ID: 828219

DOI

10.3030/828219

Project closed

EC signature date 11 July 2018

Start date 1 August 2018

End date 30 November 2018

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

INTERAX BIOTECH AG
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PICARD (Disruptive GPCR Lead Discovery Platform Delivering New and Safer Therapeutics)

Reporting period: 2018-08-01 to 2018-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Drug development can take as long as 15 years before reaching the market, costing around €2 billion, due to the low success rate of molecules during clinical trials (5%). The pharma industry is now under pressure to develop new drugs, since many patents are expiring and generics are entering the market in large numbers. Patients and pharma companies are also concerned with the ethical implications related to animal testing. With PICARD we will introduce our computational aided lead drug discovery platform to the market: this will reduce development costs by €86 million and time-to-market by 10 years. In Phase 1, we evaluated our resources, estimated the financial impact on our company and established the requirements to reach commercialization status. We conclude that the PICARD project is not only feasible, but highly profitable.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

1. We have carried out the optimization of the signaling assays of the PIC-Say element of our platform. We have established the next improvements to be implemented in the platform: Artificial Intelligence and expansion to new GPCR targets. We have assessed the risks linked to these implementations.
2. Our commercial feasibility has been established by the large market opportunity, the strong network of collaborators, customers, and institutions, a specific IPR strategy and a commercialization plan designed to lower entry-to-market barriers. We have asserted our Freedom to Operate.
3. Our financial evaluation shows that PICARD will be highly profitable, providing a large ROI, which guarantees the financial viability of the investment. We have also evaluated other sources of funding.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

PICARD is a lead compound discovery platform that allows selecting molecules with high probability to make it all the way to the market. Other solutions in the market offer signaling assays and/or virtual screening. PICARD is the only platform combining these two elements with a systems biology approach, allowing us to go beyond the state of the art in efficient drug discovery and predictive potential in the design of lead compounds. It will allow producing safer drugs at a high rate and lower cost. Furthermore, it will highly contribute to animal welfare, which is of high concern for society at large, by reducing the need for animal testing significantly.

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