Project description
Development of new drug for glaucoma treatment
Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes deterioration of vision, and is a leading cause of blindness affecting tens of millions of people worldwide. Currently, treatment for vision loss is available only for patients with 'high tension glaucoma' subtype; for those diagnosed with 'normal tension' (over 30 % of glaucoma cases), no treatment is available. The EU-funded SA-VOIR project aims to validate new therapeutic targets and develop a drug for the treatment of glaucoma. The goal is to develop a leading drug candidate up to the stage of Phase I clinical trials. The current funding enables design of the development and business plans leading towards a Phase I clinical trial.
Objective
Glaucoma is the world's leading cause of irreverisble blindness, affecting 20 million people in Europe and the US. Known as the Alzheimer’s of the eye, glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes deterioration in peripheral vision. Affected patients report ‘seeing through a black tunnel’. Treatments to halt vision loss are available however, they are only applicable for the ‘high tension glaucoma’ subtype. For those diagnosed with ‘normal tension', which comprises over 30% of glaucoma patients, no treatments are available, and vision loss is imminent. New drugs that inhibit VASH, a newly elucidated enzyme that is hyperactivated in many neurogenerative diseases, have potential to address this need.
We at MT-act are a biotechnological start-up who have identified a family of VASH-inhibiting small molecule drugs. Using an in-house proprietary biochemical assay followed by lead optimization, we have identified MT-011, which inhibits VASH with nanomolar affinity, as our lead candidate. Aside from glaucoma, VASH dysregulation is also implicated in other prominent neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Our assets therefore have an inherently broad applicability.
We aim to develop MT-011 up to the stage of Phase 1 clinical trials, upon which we aim to commercialize the drug via a licensing deal with a pharmaceutical partner. We will then receive upfront and milestone payments with a estimated total deal size of €40M. We are currently in discussion with world-leading pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Santen Pharmaceuticals, who have already indicated interest in our drugs.
In SA-VOIR, we aim to strengthen the business case for MT-011 and to outline a detailed technical plan for its continued development. These documents will not only guide us in developing MT-011 towards Phase 1 trials in an effective and de-risked manner, it will also form critical components of a business plan that we will use to attract further investment.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology dementia alzheimer
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine ophthalmology glaucoma
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs
- medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology parkinson
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
34960 MONTPELLIER
France
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.