Summary
When developing a new medicine, determining whether or not it will be safe for patients to take remains a challenge, and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) remain a major issue for clinicians. Of particular concern is damage to vital organs such as the liver, kidney, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems. The TransQST project will gather together data (both new and existing) and develop tools that will make it easier to assess the safety profile of potential medicines. They will also work to add to our understanding of when results in animal tests can be reliably extrapolated to humans, and develop models to predict concentrations of medicines in tissues, an important element of safety assessments. Another project output will be improved methods to visualise and analyse complex datasets during decision making on drug safety.
Achievements & News
IMI’s safety project TransQST was one of the EU-funded projects featured at the virtual exhibition of the recent EU Research and Innovation Days. ###When developing a new medicine, scientists need to know if the compound will be harmful to vital organs such as the heart, liver, or kidneys. However, studying this is far from easy. TransQST is gathering data and developing computer-based tools to make it easier to assess the safety profile of potential medicines. This will both improve medicines safety and reduce the use of animals in research.
In a presentation at the event, project participant Elisa Passini of the University of Oxford explains that computer models can deliver more accurate results than animal experiments (89% for computer models compared to 75-85% for animal tests). In addition to models based on single heart cells, Dr Passini is also working on three-dimensional computer models of the heart that require a super computer to run.
In total, over 35 000 people attended the R&I days, which ran online from 22 to 24 September.
Find out more
- Visit the TransQST website
- Watch a video of Dr Passini’s presentation at the stand
- Visit the R&I days website
Participants
Show participants on mapEFPIA companies
- Abbvie Deutschland GMBH & Co Kg, Wiesbaden, Germany
- Astrazeneca AB, Södertälje, Sweden
- Boehringer Ingelheim Internationalgmbh, Ingelheim, Germany
- Eli Lilly And Company LTD, Basingstoke, United Kingdom
- Glaxosmithkline Research And Development LTD., Brentford, Middlesex, United Kingdom
- Institut De Recherches Internationales Servier Iris, Suresnes, France
- Janssen Pharmaceutica Nv, Beerse, Belgium
- Orion Oyj, Espoo, Finland
- Sanofi-Aventis Recherche & Developpement, Chilly Mazarin, France
Universities, research organisations, public bodies, non-profit groups
- Erasmus Universitair Medisch Centrum Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany
- Forschungsgesellschaft Fur Arbeitsphysiologie Und Arbeitsschutz Ev, Dortmund, Germany
- Fundacio Institut Hospital Del Mar D Investigacions Mediques, Barcelona, Spain
- The University Of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
- Universitat Wien, Vienna, Austria
- Universitatsklinikum Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
- Universiteit Leiden, Leiden, Netherlands
- Universiteit Maastricht, Maastricht, Netherlands
- University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies (<€500 m turnover)
- Certara Uk Limited, London, United Kingdom
- Synapse Research Management Partners SL, Barcelona, Spain
Non EFPIA companies
- Crown Bioscience Netherlands BV, Utrecht, Netherlands
- Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Limited, London, United Kingdom
| Participants | |
|---|---|
| Name | EU funding in € |
| Certara Uk Limited | 484 600 |
| Crown Bioscience Netherlands BV | 325 354 |
| Erasmus Universitair Medisch Centrum Rotterdam | 220 500 |
| European Molecular Biology Laboratory | 1 093 089 |
| Forschungsgesellschaft Fur Arbeitsphysiologie Und Arbeitsschutz Ev | 350 250 |
| Fundacio Institut Hospital Del Mar D Investigacions Mediques | 900 525 |
| Synapse Research Management Partners SL | 353 669 |
| The University Of Liverpool | 1 161 914 |
| Universitaetsklinikum Aachen (left the project) | 132 435 |
| Universitat Wien | 350 250 |
| Universitatsklinikum Heidelberg | 269 790 |
| Universiteit Leiden | 1 239 324 |
| Universiteit Maastricht | 793 300 |
| University of Oxford | 325 000 |
| Total Cost | 8 000 000 |
Info[At]Transqst.Org
Loic Laplanche
Abbvie