By bridging an important gap between basic research and drug development, the IMI2-funded project ESCulab aims to facilitate the translation of fundamental scientific insights into innovative drug starting points. New biological concepts were collected by crowdsourcing, novel targets translated and de-risked by delivering high-quality chemical starting points for drug development. Innovators from EU academics and SMEs were offered access to state-of-the-art industry-grade facilities, drug discovery expertise and a top-quality, curated library with over 550,000 unique compounds suitable for screening potential drug targets. The ESCulab drug discovery data generated allow innovators to build a proposition that is likely to attract investors and / or drug developers and stimulate them to further exploit these findings. Ultimately, this may result in novel medicines – based on basic scientific findings – that will help patients.
ESCulab aimed to achieve this by expanding and enhancing the European Lead Factory (ELF), where this principle has been successfully implemented. ESCulab intended to support up to 185 new screens, include the application of a much larger compound collection for screening, accommodate more complex phenotypic screening assays and develop a sustainable business model to ensure access to collaborative drug discovery activities beyond the funding period. ESCulab sought to attract additional funding for externally paid screens and hit-to-lead projects from organisations such as charities and foundations for long-term sustainability of the initiative.
After 5 years of working together in a multidisciplinary team, the consortium delivered 116 screening programmes covering a wide range of therapeutic areas. In 11 years of ELF, 9 patent applications were filed, 4 start-ups created, 322 drug discovery programmes were run, leading to first clinical candidates. More than 20 programmes are available for partnering, 5 tool compounds and more than 100 scientific articles were published. ESCulab established a solid collaboration network as well as a framework for engagement with charities and non-profits.
STICHTING LYGATURE, Netherlands