IMI Members
Pharma-Cog
Prediction of cognitive properties of new drug candidates for neurodegenerative diseases in early clinical development
Summary
Currently approved drugs for patients with Alzheimer's disease only treat symptoms and their effect is limited or absent in many patients. No drugs have been approved yet that can actually slow the progression of the disease. Trials with candidate drugs take years and cost tens of millions of euro's, as the beneficial effect in patients may only become clearly apparent after long treatment due to the insensitivity of the tools available to measure the effect of a drug on the progression of the disease.
The Pharma-Cog project aims to develop and validate new tools to test candidate drugs for the treatment of symptoms and disease in a faster and more sensitive way. By bringing together databases of previously conducted clinical trials and combining the results from blood tests, brain scans and behavioural tests, the scientists will develop a 'signature' that gives more accurate information on the progression of the disease and the effect of candidate drugs than current methods do. The scientists will conduct parallel studies in laboratory models, healthy volunteers and patients in order to better predict good new drugs as early as possible. This will enable them, for instance, to find out how memory loss in Alzheimer's disease can be simulated in healthy volunteers, for example with sleep deprivation or drugs that temporarily affect the memory, in order to test the effect of candidate-medicines early in the drug development process. Combining the expertise of twenty nine public and private partners, Pharma-Cog has the unique opportunity to fundamentally change the drug discovery process in Alzheimer disease and to accelerate in Europe the development of effective drugs for patients. The consortium will work in close cooperation with the European Medicines Agency.
Achievements & News
PharmaCog reaches out to European Parliament
IMI project PharmaCog presented some of its key findings at the European Parliament during a lunch hosted by French parliamentarians Françoise Grossetete and Elisabeth Morin-Chartier.###The 40 guests, including 7 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) learnt about how the PharmaCog project is helping to speed up the discovery of drugs for Alzheimer’s disease. PharmaCog is developing new tools to identify potential drugs (and screen out ineffective ones) early in the drug development process. The project is also working on tests to determine how well a drug is working in individual patients, e.g. through brain scans, blood tests, and cognitive testing.
(March 2012)
Participants
EFPIA
- GlaxoSmithKline Research and Development LTD, Brentford, UK
- AstraZeneca AB, Södertälje, Sweden
- Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Ingelheim, Germany
- Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland
- Institut De Recherches Servier, Suresnes, France
- UCB Pharma SA, Brussels, Belgium
- Merck Serono, Geneva, Switzerland
- Eli Lilly and Company Ltd, Basingstoke, UK
- Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Beerse, Belgium
- F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Basel, Switzerland
- H. Lundbeck A/S, Valby, Denmark
- EISAI Ltd, UK
Universities, Research Organisations, Public Bodies & Non-Profit
- Université de la Méditerranée – Aix-Marseille II, Marseille, France
- Institut D'investigacions Biomediques August Pi-Sunyer, Barcelona, Spain
- Universite Lille II – Droit Et Sante, Lille, France
- Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
- Universitätsklinikum Essen, Essen, Germany
- Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Paris Cedex 13, France
- Universita’ Degli Studi Di Verona, Verona, Italy
- Provincia Lombardo-Veneta Ordine Ospedaliero San Giovanni Di Dio – Fatebenefratelli, Milan, Italy
- Università degli Studi di Foggia, Foggia, Italy
- Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Milan, Italy
- Alzheimer Europe, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
SMEs
- Innovative Concepts in Drug Development (ICDD-sas), Aix en Provence, France
- SAS Alzprotect, Loos, France
- Qualissima GmbH, Marseille, France
- Exonhit Therapeutics SA, Paris, France
- Innovative Health Diagnostics, Strasbourg, France
Facts & Figures
| Starting date | 01/01/2010 |
| Duration | 60 months |
| Contributions | € |
| IMI funding | 9 658 388 |
| EFPIA in-kind | 10 187 989 |
| Other | 7 860 646 |
| Total cost | 27 707 023 |
Contact
Project Coordinator
Jill C. Richardson
RD ChIna UK Group
GlaxoSmithKline Research Centre
Gunnels Wood Road
Stevenage
Hertfordshire
UK
SG1 2NY
Tel: +44 (0) 1438 766700
Email: Jill.C.Richardson[AT]gsk.com
Managing entity of IMI beneficiaries
Celine Damon
CIC-UPCET - Hopital de la Timone
Université de la Méditerranée – Aix-Marseille II
Marceille, France
Tel: + 33 4 91 38 46 46
Email: celine.damon[AT]@univ-amu.fr
Scientific Coordinator
Regis Bordet
Email:bordet[ÂT]univ-lille2.fr
Innovative Medicines Initiative 2010