RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS
Research and Innovation is the heart of Firalis' activities as we develop novel methods, applications and other diagnostic tools of clinical use. At that point, collaboration is key to success and provides the speed we need. In selecting its partners for different steps of our projects, Firalis looks for divergent specifications such as :
- Complementarity of the know-how and expertise
- Easy or existing access to the market of Firalis' interest
If you also see a complementarity and a collaboration opportunity, submit a request, briefly describing your company, know-how market, TRL and any other detail around your project, to allow us evaluate and set a call to discuss the details if needed.
Firalis has established strong contractual collaborations for research and product development projects, with many acknowledged partners from central Europe, as well as Asia and US. Some of them are listed below :
> IGBMC (Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology) aims to develop interdisciplinary research. The domains of investigation carried out by the Institute range from developmental biology to integrative structural biology, via functional genomics, cancer, translational medicine and neurogenetics. http://www-igbmc.u-strasbg.fr
> JUBILANT BIOSYS is one of the IT giants worldwide, with a proven expertise in the creation of databases for specific needs. Besides creation; Jubilant has leading know-how on design, customization and management of complex databases, which is a “must” for the research and discovery of new, innovative biomarkers. http://www.jubilantbiosys.com/
> CELEMICS Inc. supplies key enabling solutions in the field of genomics, antibody discovery and synthetic biology. As a manufacturer of target enrichment kits for NGS applications, Celemics secured itself in the global market as a pioneer of this methodology for genetic testing. Celemics offers customer flexible and customizable target enrichment kits in IVD and RUO sector with remarkable synthetic probe rebalancing technology under stringent quality management system (ISO 9001, ISO 13485, GMP). Founded 2010, Celemics focused in the past years on providing target enrichment panels in Europe and Asia for various applications including oncology, inherited disease and genetic marker discovery.
> QUANTAMATRIX is a global personalized diagnostics company founded in 2010 and located in Seoul, South-Korea with a professional and commercial network in Asia. The company is an expert in developing and commercializing diagnostic assays. QuantaMatrix commercializes molecular and cellular diagnostic services enabled by proprietary instrumentations and disposable kits developed in-house.
> UROLEAD is a network of excellence focusing on the set-up of models predictive of the efficacy of new drug candidates in urogenital cancers as well as on the development of a personalized medicine approach intended to more quickly indentify responder and non-responders to various pharmacologic interventions in these conditions. These models are based on xenograft of primary tumors.
> UNIVERSITE PIERRE ET MARIE CURIE (UPMC), a clinical team led by Pr. Cacoub within the Institute for Immunology, Immunopathology and Immunotherapy headed by Pr. Klatzmann for the development of biomarkers intended to diagnose rare immunologic disorders. This group has authored numerous publications in the most prestigious journal of medicine (J. Immuno; NEJM). http://www.upmc.fr/en
Initiating, coordinating and/or participating in collaborative research programs of European, national or other multinational frameworks, are of great interest to Firalis, for several reasons such as:
1. Cumulating related know-how
2. Ensuring visibility
3. Setting direct links with decision making contacts and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) from industry and academia
4. Acquiring patent rights, authorships/co-authorships and certain exclusivities to exploit project outcomes.
For more information on the on-going research projects, consult our R&D page.
Have a look at few of the closed research consortia that Firalis initiated or participated here :
SAFE-T, a Firalis-initiated public-private partnership on translational safety biomarkers, established under the unique European framework of IMI-JU (Innovative Medicines Initiative - Joint Undertaking).SAFE-T Consortium had ~30 partners, mostly industry partners such as AstraZeneca, GSK, Novartis, Pfizer and Roche. For more information on SAFE-T, (one of the largest biomarker initiatives ever) visit project’s public web-site here: http://www.imi-safe-t.eu
MITOCARE is a research consortium funded by European Community under FP7 framework. Project partners centered their expertise on the considerable problem of cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). Karolinska Institute, INSERM, Universities of Bristol, Bergen and Lund, University Hospitals of Oslo and Odense were some of 14 project partners.
IMAGINT research consortium is also an FP7 project, aimed to develop new tools for imaging the «HER» family of tyrosine kinase cell surface receptors and their interactions in breast cancer. University College of London, Kings College of London, Universities of Zurich and Uppsala were only a few of Firalis partners in the project (for Firalis’ role in the project, please click here). To view the complete list of partners and for more information on Imagint, visit project’s public web-site: http://www.imagint.eu
Academia tend more and more to collaborate with private biotechs for many reasons, few of which are as below:
• providing their staff with multiple opportunities to acquire industry-oriented perspectives beyond academic research
• getting a place in multinational consortia, larger than they could establish alone with limited resources and administrative hurdles
• easier and faster access to public funds to finance their respective research activities, under SME-coordination.
Besides, biotech companies have their own reasons as well, to collaborate with academia.
Access to biological samples is definitely one important item among many other such as:
• outsourcing issues that require particularly unique expertise and know-how
• access to large technology platforms that -otherwise- would require extensive investment
• national policies to initiate partnerships between academia (public) and industry (private)
• affordable prices thanks to bilateral agreements and/or public subventions.
For these reasons and more, Firalis has established several partnerships with the academia and academicians, such as:
LUXEMBOURG INSTITUTE OF HEALTH (Former CRP-Santé) is one of the most prestigious universities in France, which dates back to the early 16th century for studies such as medicine, philosophy, law etc. Thanks to the worldwide reputation of its research teams, built on excellence and efficiency, UNISTRA is among Europe's foremost research universities. Our partnership with UNISTRA focuses on the development of biomarker kits. For more information visit their web-site; www.crp-sante.lu
UNIVERSITY OF STRASBOURG (UNISTRA) is one of the most prestigious universities in France, which dates back to the early 16th century for studies such as medicine, philosophy, law etc. Thanks to the worldwide reputation of its research teams, built on excellence and efficiency, UNISTRA is among Europe's foremost research universities. Our partnership with UNISTRA focuses on the development of biomarker kits. For more information visit their web-site; www.unistra.fr
UNIVERSITY OF FREIBURG, founded in 1457, combines natural and engineering sciences with medicine and other studies in its interdisciplinary environment. For more information visit their web-site; www.uni-freiburg.de
IMTEK (DEPARTMENT OF MICROSYSTEMS ENGINEERING) is a unique department of Freiburg University in Europe, with over 300 research and technical staff. The scientific scope of IMTEK involves a grand majority of technical fields relevant to the world of microsystems technology, which is the main theme of our partnership, focusing to exploit microchip technology for biomarker discovery and development. For more information visit their web site; www.imtek.de
UNIVERSITY OF FRANCHE-COMTÉ, is one of the most ancient and prestigious universities in France, dating back to 1423. The Faculty of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences is a collaborator to Firalis since the creation of the latter. This includes partnerships in Firalis-led research projects and enjoying wide opportunities of their technology platforms and equipment. For more information visit their web-site: www.univ-fcomte.fr