European ScreeningPort takes up the fight against multiresistant bacteria within a
joint IMI research initiative
European ScreeningPort is consortium partner of TRANSLOCATION, a project within the frame of
the IMI Call6 – New Drugs for Bad Bugs (ND4BB)– programme
Hamburg, June 4th, 2013 – European ScreeningPort is pleased to announce that it is partner of an
international consortium funded by the Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI). The project
“TRANSLOCATION” (Molecular basis of the bacterial cell wall permeability) is one of the first two
projects funded under IMI’s antimicrobial resistance (AMR) research programme, ‘New Drugs for Bad
Bugs’ (ND4BB), set out to spur antibiotic development. The project addresses Topic 2, ‘LEARNING
FROM SUCCESS AND FAILURE & GETTING DRUGS INTO BAD BUGS’ which was launched as part of
IMI’s 6th Call.
The TRANSLOCATION consortium is composed of 25 partners, (Pharmaceutical companies,
universities, research institutes and SMEs) and is coordinated by GlaxoSmithKline and the Jacobs
University, Bremen (http://www.imi.europa.eu/content/translocation).
TRANSLOCATION will focus its efforts on identifying new ways of getting antibiotics into bacteria and
preventing bacteria from expelling the drugs before they can take effect. It will work primarily on
drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria which are responsible for two thirds of the 25,000 deaths
resulting from antimicrobial resistance reported in Europe annually.
A unique aspect of TRANSLOCATION is the setting up of an Information Centre to allow knowledge
and data sharing, in order to increase efficiency in antibiotic R&D. The European ScreeningPort coleads the Work Packages covering the establishment and utilization of the ND4BB Information
Centre. The goal will be to help create a data management system for the collection of historic and
novel data on antibacterial research and provide tools for their systematic analysis.
“It is an exciting challenge to help establish the ND4BB Information Centre to support “learning from
success and failure” in antibiotic research, and we are very proud to be a member of the
TRANSLOCATION consortium. The aim of the ND4BB Information Centre is to improve efficiency in
antibiotic pharmaceutical R&D by facilitating knowledge exchange across the Academic, Biotech and
EFPIA partners, and IMI’s public private partnership model is the ideal platform to make this goal a
reality. There is much discussion about the impact of “Big Data” approaches on improving
pharmaceutical R&D and we see this pioneering project as a concrete example of how advanced
informatics approaches can be used to benefit human health.” states Dr. Philip Gribbon, CSO/COO of
European ScreeningPort GmbH.
About European ScreeningPort GmbH
European ScreeningPort, based in Hamburg, Germany is a public-private partnership, which works
with academic institutes and universities across Europe. The company performs bioassay
development and validation, primary screening of small molecules, high content screening for
secondary and selectivity assays, bioinformatics and virtual screening for academic partners.
The research leading to these results has received support from the Innovative Medicines Initiative
under grant agreement n° 115525, resources of which are composed of financial contribution from
the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) and member companies of
the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) in kind contribution
(www.imi.europa.eu).
Contact:
Dr. Mira Grättinger
European ScreeningPort GmbH
Schnackenburgallee 114
D-22525 Hamburg
phone: +49 40 56081 470
fax: +49 40 56081 453
email: mira.graettinger@screeningport.com
web: www.screeningport.com