The project Neogenius Pharma has started off. It was born of the strategic alliance of the pharmaceutical companies Almirall, Esteve and Palau Pharma, and the biotechnology company Proteomika. The official presentation, kick off meeting, took place at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) and brought together practically 14 of the entities involved in the project and almost a hundred researchers from all over Spain.
During the presentation, the consortium partners set forth the scope of the project’s activities the common aim of which is to discover and develop new medicines for the treatment of pain in osteoarthritis patients. Also, they presented work by the research organizations and SMEs collaborating on the project.
Neogenius Pharma is an innovative project of its kind in the Spanish pharmaceutical industry, stated Jordi Beleta of Almirall during the round table on collaborative innovation or the importance of sharing to become more competitive –this round table took place yesterday and was organized by Biocat on the Day of the Entrepreneur. It is also a clear example of public-private cooperation to foster R&D&I.
The Neogenius consortium has its roots in the Genius Pharma project, a CENIT project approved in the first call for this program in 2006. Now, the Neogenius project will leverage this groundwork by integrating and developing it into a research program comprising two sub-projects: Farma, which will identify one or more original compounds capable of providing an analgesic effect and improving the quality of life of osteoarthritis sufferers; and Biomarker sub-project, aimed at identifying biomarkers that will enable a deeper knowledge of this type of patient, and which in the short- to medium-term will facilitate the design of diagnostic tools.
Neogenius is a 4-year program with a budget of 15.4 million euros, of which 7.6 come from a subsidy from the National Strategic Consortia in Technical Research (CENIT) appointed and managed by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI).
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