Project description
Online networking to bridge nuclear MRI with rare disease treatment
According to statistics, rare diseases affect 36 million people in the EU with 75 % of patients being children and 30 % dying under the age of five. The majority of the known 8 000 rare diseases lack approved treatments, and the EU has provided financial incentives for pharmaceutical companies to develop effective orphan drugs. The EU-funded RD-MRI NETWORK project represents an effort to find the solution which bridges the gap between pharma, academia and hospitals by providing an online network that combines expert clinical sites, full trial design, the most advanced MRI methodologies and smart automated MRI data processing and coordination. As many potential partners experience significant limitations such as a lack of modern MRI imaging, this project will be fundamental in bringing technology to full market potential, involving the 150 000 clinical sites and 36 million rare disease patients in the EU.
Objective
Rare diseases affect 36 million citizens in the EU with 75% of patients being children and 30% dying under the age of five. 94% of the 8,000 rare diseases lack approved treatments and the EU has created financial incentives for pharmaceutical companies (PhC) to develop suitable orphan drugs but they face difficulties through increasingly high development risks where a failed drug trial can cost €1.8bn on average. In order to lower their costs, PhCs outsource development work to Contractual Research Organizations (CRO) who specialise in specific task such as drug discovery or clinical trials but these CROs have significant limitations such as a lack of modern Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) methodologies, EMA/FDA compliance, contacts to clinical sites and restricted access to rare disease patient groups. We present MRI NETWORK, the first solution which bridges the gap between PhCs and clinical sites by providing an online network of expert clinical sites, full trial design, the most advanced MRI methodologies and smart automated MRI data processing & coordination. This project will be fundamental in bringing our technology to full market readiness and reach the 150,000 clinical sites and 36 million rare disease patients in the EU. Our company, CRIS, has been involved in 30+ clinical trials in the past 20 years and with our extensive commercial network of clinical sites, academic experts, pharmaceutical companies and the relevant regulatory institutions, we expect to generate €15.4m in profits with an ROI of 6.7 over 3 years. RD-MRI NETWORK creates a new market for clinical trials and MRI services in the EU and, next to 17 direct jobs, we will create 500+ new skilled jobs by allowing academics to receive adequate compensation for MRI services and increase industry collaborations in academia.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
7503 TOURNAI
Belgium
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.