Past opportunities for collaboration
Participate: Opportunities for researchers and SMEs
Between 2013 and January 2022, European researchers and SMEs with well-developed screening assays were invited to submit their screening proposals to the European Lead Factory (ELF). The information on this page outlines the opportunities and benefits afforded to those collaborating with the ELF.
Successful applicants, known as Programme Owners, gain access to an industry-standard drug discovery platform in the hunt for new compounds to progress their research or develop new drugs, with all screening costs covered by IMI funding. The Programme Owners become integral members of the highly specialised European Lead Factory drug discovery team, with access to cutting-edge assets and facilities, such as:
- Ultra-high throughput screening (uHTS) at no upfront cost against the European Lead Factory compound library – a unique library of more than 500,000 compounds, 300,000 of which are compounds selected from the screening collections of eight major European pharma companies, rapidly expanded through the Public Compound Collection
- Experimental work performed by consortium partners at the European Screening Centre and funded by IMI2 JU
- A Qualified Hit List (QHL) of up to 50 compounds together with a detailed report of all related results
- A programme designed to maximise the potential to progress research and reach specific goals (e.g. funding and partnerships)
- Exclusive access rights for three years to exploit the screening results after receiving the QHL report, including the structures, chemical properties, all biological data of the compounds, as well as resynthesis of the most promising hits. If possible, physical samples of hit compounds are made available to ensure follow-up experiments
- The rights to decide how to advance results, for example by direct exploitation and/or research use (publication of results subject to an option right for licensing granted to EFPIA Participants and to the ELF publication policy)
- The opportunity, at any point within the three-year exclusivity period, to start partnering discussions with the ELF EFPIA partners
In February 2022, ELF closed its open calls for screening proposals and the project officially came to a close on 30 November 2023.