3D NEONET — Drug Discovery and Delivery NEtwork for ONcology and Eye Therapeutics

Results in brief

Drug Discovery and Delivery NEtwork for ONcology and Eye Therapeutics

The overall, currently fully achieved, aim of 3D-NEONET project was to improve treatment options for cancer and blindness, while enhancing EU capability and knowledge-sharing in drug discovery, drug development and drug delivery to address unmet medical needs in these 2 disease areas. More than 300 million people worldwide suffer from vision impairments. The European Forum Against Blindness (EFAB) reported that eye disease significantly reduces a person’s quality of life and creates a multi-billion-euro burden on European economies. In the seven European countries studied (France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Great Britain) the economic burden of blindness amounted to ~€7,000,000,000. In these countries, ~3.8 million Europeans suffer from glaucoma, ~2.8 million from wet age-related macular degeneration and ~1.8 million from diabetic retinopathy. Poor vision is associated with lower socio-economic status, higher unemployment, gender (more prevalent in women) and age. Ocular disease places a direct economic burden on European countries of ~€20 billion. Therefore, cost-effective interventions (e.g., screening and treatments) to overcome the individual and societal impact of vision loss are needed. The global cancer observatory, GLOBOCAN, estimated 19.3 million new cases and 10 million cancer deaths in 2020. As cancer incidence and mortality grow, global cancer control is a priority. The WHO estimates cancer is responsible for 1 in 6 deaths, and incidence will grow to 29 million by 2040. Lung cancer is the principal cause of cancer death among males and breast cancer remains the main cause of cancer death among females. Other prominent causes of cancer death include colorectal (males/females) and prostate cancer among males. In Europe, cancer healthcare costs ~€57 billion and productivity losses due to morbidity and death are ~€10 & ~€47 billion annually, respectively. The majority of new therapies cost ~€5,000 per patient/month, and usually the cost-effectiveness ratios surpass commonly recognized thresholds – an unjustifiable trend

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Severe ocular disorders are affecting the lives of more than 100Mill people world-wide and at least 25% of the population above 70 years of age, a growing demographic group in EU. More than 8 million people lose their lives to cancer every year, making cancer a leading cause of pre-mature mortality in the world. The main hallmarks of severe eye conditions (i.e angiogenesis, inflammation and vascular permeability) play also pivotal roles in cancer, being therapeutic targets to treat both kind of diseases.The overall goal of 3D-NEONET is the improvement of available treatments for cancer and ocular disease by enhancing drug discovery-development and delivery to targeted tissues, through advanced international co-operation between academic and non-academic partners. The interdisciplinary expertise provided by 18 partners in 7 countries encompasses among others: drug screens, ADME, toxicology, preclinical models, nanotechnology, biomaterials and clinical trials.After the success with ongoing FP7-IAPP project 3D-NET (Drug Discovery and Development of Novel Eye Therapeutics; (www.ucd.ie/3dnet), we are assembling 3D-NEONET, this enlarged European interdisciplinary consortium that will join forces and exchange skills to enhance current therapies in oncology and ophthalmology. The 3 global objectives of 3D-NEONET are:1- Enhance the discovery and development of novel drugs, targets and biomarkers for ophthalmology and oncology. 2- Improve the Delivery of Therapeutics for Oncology and Ophthalmology3- Enhancement of Research, Commercial and Clinical Trial Project Management Practices in these fields.Through participation in the program, 3D-NEONET is the vehicle for driving synergies between academic and non-academic participants leading to increased scientific and technological excellence as well as tangible innovative outputs that will strengthen the competitiveness of both the researchers and industries of the network even beyond the lifetime of the network.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN · DublinCoordinatorIreland
ASHLAND SPECIALTIES IRELAND LIMITED · MullingarIreland
BIOREPERIA AB · LinkopingSweden
BLAFAR LIMITED · BLACKROCK DUBLINIreland
CRESSET BIOMOLECULAR DISCOVERY LIMITED · LitlingtonUnited Kingdom
ECM INGENIERIA AMBIENTAL SL · PalenciaSpain
EXPERIMENTELLE PHARMAKOLOGIE UND ONKOLOGIE BERLIN-BUCH GMBH · BerlinGermany
EYECRO LLC · OKLAHOMA CITYUnited States
HGBEYOND MATERIALS SICENCE SL · SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELASpain
ICON CLINICAL RESEARCH LIMITED · DublinIreland
INTERNATIONAL IBERIAN NANOTECHNOLOGY LABORATORY · BragaPortugal
KARLSRUHER INSTITUT FUER TECHNOLOGIE · KarlsruheGermany
LINKOPINGS UNIVERSITET · LinkopingSweden
OCUPHARM DIAGNOSTICS SL · MadridSpain
SOUTH EAST TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY · WaterfordIreland
THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD, OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN · DublinIreland
THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST · BELFASTUnited Kingdom
UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID · MadridSpain
UNIVERSIDAD DE VALLADOLID · VALLADOLIDSpain
UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY · GalwayIreland
XENOPAT SL · HOSPITALET DE LLOBREGATSpain
ZECLINICS SL · SANT FELIU DE LLOBREGATSpain

3D NEONET · Drug Discovery and Delivery NEtwork for ONcology and Eye Therapeutics

Results in brief

Drug Discovery and Delivery NEtwork for ONcology and Eye Therapeutics

Project objective

Participants

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