kaertor

Mission and Vision

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Our mission

Our mission is to generate, manage, execute and promote drug discovery programs and the social and productive economy of this sector in Galicia. The Foundation’s activities are aimed at the reciprocal transfer of research results in the context of open innovation in drug discovery.

The trustees of the Foundation combine the experience, knowledge and prestige in their respective fields of expertise.

Our vision

THE BEST PARTNER IN DRUG DISCOVERY

Open Innovation has transformed early drug discovery into a highly multidisciplinary and delocalized scenario, by enabling all players integrated in the network to share knowledge in real time throughout the entire health ecosystem. Pharmaceutical companies now operate through open innovation departments in which the top experts worldwide connect research on the mechanisms of disease through these pipelines. It is a new world where the creation of ‘real’ innovation in drug discovery is possible.

This scenario represents a great opportunity for drug discovery R&D to connect biomedical research in disease mechanisms with drug development and patients.

Worldwide there are already several initiatives in Open Innovation in drug discovery, such as Apollo Therapeutics in the UK, FlandersBio in Belgium, the Centre for Drug Research and Development in Canada and the Medicon Valley Alliance in Denmark/Sweden. Spain has an enormous potential for advancing its excellent biomedical research to drug discovery programs within this new scenario.

INNOPHARMA: A MODEL OF SUCCESS IN OPEN INNOVATION

The Innopharma pharmacogenomics platform was created in the open innovation framework to bridge the gap between basic research in new therapeutic mechanisms and the industrial application of the research findings. The EU/MINECO/Xunta de Galicia/University of Santiago de Compostela funded this platform during the period 2012-2015.

When Innopharma launched a call for programs, 122 expressions of interest were received, and those with the highest potential were selected for further development within the Innopharma platform.

Major achievements of the Innopharma call:

• The ERIC EU-OPENSCREEN network has accredited the Innopharma platform as a high capacity-screening platform, certifying that it meets the requirements established for its inclusion in the network.
• One program with clinical Proof of Principle completed.
• One program selected as winner of the GSK Discovery Fast Track Challenge (DPAc).
• One program selected by AstraZeneca for co-development under its Target Innovation Program.
• 42 signed agreements with companies and private partners.

The sustainability of the successful Innopharma model is driven by the Kærtor Foundation.