Project description
Delivering unlimited amounts of the natural compound Sparteine to pharma and academia
Sparteine’s potential, especially for the pharmaceutical industry, has yet to be exploited because it is expensive and difficult to get on the market in bulk amount. Portugal-based Spartax Chemicals introduced a novel method to widely produce enantiomerically pure Sparteine by using a compound obtained from the wastewater of lupin processing. The cost-efficient process could supply Sparteine in large amounts while reducing production costs and delivering non-stop production. The EU-funded SpartWISE project will explore the technical and financial feasibility and market potential of extensively producing and commercialising Sparteine. To do so, it will assess all scale-up costs, research potential customers and deliver a business plan for commercialisation.
Objective
Spartax Chemicals, a newly founded Portuguese company, has developed an innovative process for the large scale production of Sparteine, using as raw material a compound extracted from lupin processing wastewater. Enantiomerically pure sparteine is an exceptionally good enantioselective ligand for asymmetric synthesis that has found application not only in the field of synthetic organic chemistry but also in the development of synthetic routes for the preparation of commercial drugs and drug candidates, with the most prominent example being the anticonvulsant drug (S)-Pregabalin.
The SpartWISE process was developed to address the market need for reliable sources of both enantiomers of Sparteine. It is a well-documented fact that there is a cyclic stock rupture of enantiomerically pure Sparteine at the main chemical vendors. As a consequence, many researchers, both from academia and industry, have been forced to look inter alia for suppliers in the Asian market, which often do not comply with the standards of quality necessary for R&D purposes, or do not deliver the requested product in sufficient amount in due time.
Contrary to the state of the art approach, which relies on the cumbersome extraction and purification of small amounts of (-)-Sparteine available from a leguminous shrub, the SpartWISE technology offers a cost-effective process that can make this compound available on kilogram-scale with drastic reduction of production costs and with continuous production. Moreover, it also generates the even scarcer enantiomer (+)-Sparteine.
Our goal for the Phase 1 is to assess the feasibility and market potential for the large scale production and commercialisation of Sparteine. For that purpose, we will (a) assess all the costs of the scaling-up, (b) investigate the prospective customers for our products and (c) develop a detailed business plan for commercialisation.
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.
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.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy drug discovery
- engineering and technology environmental engineering water treatment processes wastewater treatment processes
- natural sciences chemical sciences organic chemistry
- natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences
- natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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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.
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.
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
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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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.
2620-185 RAMADA E CANECAS
Portugal
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
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.