Enabling Near-Patient Drug Discovery and Development

Purpose and goal:

Despite recent progress in treating disease, we still face low success rates in preclinical research and clinical development, limiting access to much needed treatments. One important factor contributing to late-stage failure is the genetic and phenotypic variability in patient populations, leading to differential treatment response. While well known, this aspect is currently not embraced during early stages of drug discovery, as we lack broad and affordable access to accurate models of disease.

Expected results and effects:

Our aim is to introduce precision medicine principles in the drug discovery process to boost clinical success rates. This requires access to disease models that are representative of individuals, so we can map differences in treatment response. By enabling testing in patient-near cells in a highly miniaturised format we can make these tests affordable and address key Agenda 2030 objectives, such as sustainability in healthcare and access to healthier lives for everyone.

Approach and implementation:

The key aspect of this development project is miniaturization, which previously revolutionized DNA sequencing with a 100,000 fold cost reduction over the past 20-years. Specifically, we will develop and demonstrate the use of highly miniaturized 3D models at a cost and scale where they can be broadly applied. We have brought together a consortium of partners to co-create the tools, infrastructure and support needed for these miniaturized models to reach broad impact in the life sciences.