Chief Scientific Officer Pivot Park Screening Centre B.V., Netherlands
The European Lead Factory (ELF) combines assets and experience from major pharma with innovation and agility of academia and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to bridge the innovation gap and boost drug discovery to tackle unmet medical needs in a collaborative platform. ELF builds on a unique shared library of 550.000 compounds that is made accessible for screening to the academics and SMEs. Supported by a pharma-like HTS infrastructure and custom-built software that allows for comprehensive triaging while protecting IP, more than 200 full-deck screens have been performed. Thus far, follow-up work on these programs resulted in over 100 peer reviewed publications, several patents and successes across a range of indications such as subsequent clinical development programs and further investments into SMEs. Building on these successes the ELF has expanded into phenotypic screening by High Content Analysis in recent years. 10 years after democratizing access to large-scale high-throughput screening infrastructure, many successful programs are heading towards the clinic and the organization is now broadening its approach to screening, while expanding its reach towards global partners by providing access to its unique infrastructure to charities and publicly funded programs worldwide. This presentation will highlight successes of ELF and provide a perspective into the future of collaborative drug discovery and shared library screening.
