A unique operation” thus Claudio Semeraro, CEO of Z-Cube, the corporate venture of Zambon, defined the agreement with Quantica SGR, Zernike Meta venture and State Street Global Investments, to finance PharmEste, the first university spin-off transformed into a company. And the starting point seems excellent, given that there are already five proprietary patents and initial assets of 3.2 million euros, destined to rise within a year and a half to 20-22 million euros. Not bad, especially in a moment, as Semeraro always underlines, "in which the cry of alarm for the crisis of research and innovation in Italy in the leading sectors of science and medicine is widespread". A point of discontinuity with the past, therefore, but what is it about in more detail?
PharmEste was founded in 2003 as an offshoot of the University of Ferrara and is the first of around 600 Italian university spin-offs to become a company and thus launch its challenge to foreign big pharma. The research is aimed at the development of drugs against neuropathic pain, which afflicts more than 1% of the world population, 7 million patients worldwide and over one million in Italy, equal to a current expenditure of approximately 2.5 billion euros. A figure destined to grow. PharmEste's objective is obviously the market. "A risk" as explained by the rector of the Ferrara university Patrizio Bianchi, "especially for a public university like ours, which over the years has however made spin-offs its point of strength and attraction". If it goes wrong, it will be five patents lost, but still collected and put to good use for the patient. While if all goes well, the value of PharmEste on the market will reach 200-300 million euros.
The research was fueled by 10 founding scientists and young researchers in the field, and the conviction of those present at the press conference to launch the spin-off, including Mario Faravelli, CEO of PharmEste, is that it is a winning challenge. Victory will consist in the development of effective molecules and the consequent effort of rival companies, competitors of the caliber of Bayer, Merck and Pfizer, to buy the new drugs. But the road is still long. For now, the 4-5 most promising molecules selected will lead to clinical trials on the first drug candidate. This means that, keeping to the timetable, the first phase III clinical studies should start between 2010 and 2011, and the registration dossiers for the launch could be forwarded to the international regulatory authorities in 2013. The hope is to shorten the times. The road taken seems to be the right one to overcome the innovation crisis in the pharmaceutical sector. A reality in which research and development costs tripled from 1992 to 2005 and the new authorized active ingredients more than halved. The academic world could be a hotbed of new and fertile ideas. Marco Malagutti
PharmEste was founded in 2003 as an offshoot of the University of Ferrara and is the first of around 600 Italian university spin-offs to become a company and thus launch its challenge to foreign big pharma. The research is aimed at the development of drugs against neuropathic pain, which afflicts more than 1% of the world population, 7 million patients worldwide and over one million in Italy, equal to a current expenditure of approximately 2.5 billion euros. A figure destined to grow. PharmEste's objective is obviously the market. "A risk" as explained by the rector of the Ferrara university Patrizio Bianchi, "especially for a public university like ours, which over the years has however made spin-offs its point of strength and attraction". If it goes wrong, it will be five patents lost, but still collected and put to good use for the patient. While if all goes well, the value of PharmEste on the market will reach 200-300 million euros.
The research was fueled by 10 founding scientists and young researchers in the field, and the conviction of those present at the press conference to launch the spin-off, including Mario Faravelli, CEO of PharmEste, is that it is a winning challenge. Victory will consist in the development of effective molecules and the consequent effort of rival companies, competitors of the caliber of Bayer, Merck and Pfizer, to buy the new drugs. But the road is still long. For now, the 4-5 most promising molecules selected will lead to clinical trials on the first drug candidate. This means that, keeping to the timetable, the first phase III clinical studies should start between 2010 and 2011, and the registration dossiers for the launch could be forwarded to the international regulatory authorities in 2013. The hope is to shorten the times. The road taken seems to be the right one to overcome the innovation crisis in the pharmaceutical sector. A reality in which research and development costs tripled from 1992 to 2005 and the new authorized active ingredients more than halved. The academic world could be a hotbed of new and fertile ideas. Marco Malagutti
From Pharmamarketing
