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- Tuesday, July 30, 2024 @ 7:00 am
European consortium FASS receives a prestigious EIC Transition grant of € 2.5 M. FASS stands for ‘Fast and Accurate Solubility for Sustainability’ and aims to bring to the market a revolutionary laboratory instrument for the measurement of the solubility of drug molecules. The consortium is led by EU-OPENSCREEN ERIC, a European research infrastructure with central office in Germany. Other members are Oryl Photonics and Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz – FHNW (Switzerland); and ALPhANOV (France).
“We are very happy to receive this grant, a proof of the excellence of the project and the competence of the consortium. This emphasizes the unmet need of the market for the new solution we are proposing, both in terms of research improvement and environmental breakthrough” shares Robert Harmel, Scientific project manager at EU-OPENSCREEN.
“This grant will accelerate the development and market entry of our laboratory instrument. Oryl Photonics is excited to make a world impact through its light-scattering based technology that fills a gap in the market offering of solubility measurement. The output of the grant will empower researchers in the pharmaceutical, chemical and life sciences industries to achieve more in their work, with sustainability and performance in mind.” shares Orly Tarun, CEO & Co-founder of Oryl Photonics.
A capital injection to deliver to the market a revolutionary laboratory instrument for pharmaceutical companies
The instrument was initially conceived at EPFL in Lausanne by Orly Tarun and Nathan Dupertuis, the founders of Oryl Photonics. The Swiss startup has developed the technology, an advanced form of laser-based light scattering, after an incubation for over a decade. The spin-off received over the last years CHF 1.2 million in non-dilutive funding, grants, and awards from various Swiss organizations as well as an ERC Proof of Concept grant from the European Research Commission. The current FASS project is a direct follow-up to this very competitive grant.
FASS officially started on June 1st and will last for 30 months. The new funding of € 2.5 M will help the consortium to deliver to the market a disruptive and sustainable solubility measurement instrument that reduces cost and drug compound consumption, increases measurement throughput while achieving cutting-edge performances in sensitivity and reliability.
The composition of the consortium is ideal to achieve this objective, with complementary expertise in photonics and laser technologies, drug screening and discovery, and pharmaceutical formulation. The grant will be instrumental for technological maturation, customer development, exploration of value- added applications of the technology in drug discovery and development and to improve market competitiveness, positioning and credibility.
A technological breakthrough for life science research & development
Measuring how drugs dissolve in liquids is crucial for the development of efficient drugs. The FASS technology forwards solubility measurement to the next level through its rapid, sensitive and accurate laser-based light scattering that requires the least quantity of compounds. It is based on the ‘Solvent Redistribution’ method – born at EPFL – that is the world’s-first solution that will disrupt the way solubility measurement is performed. The laboratory instrument created by Oryl Photonics provides a straightforward analysis and automated solubility testing process for pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies, while saving precious compounds compared to existing technologies. It also reduces drastically the environmental impact with a lower consumption of chemicals, electricity and consumables, hence giving its name – Fast and Accurate Solubility for Sustainability – to the project.
About the consortium
- EU-OPENSCREEN is the European research infrastructure consortium (ERIC) for early drug discovery and chemical biology. Together with its 27 partner sites in 8 countries, the consortium offers expertise in screening and medicinal chemistry. As part of its mission, the ERIC supports academia and industry to develop new chemical tool compounds and disruptive technology to advance drug discovery.
- Oryl Photonics is an innovative technology company spin-off from EPFL that aims to be the reference in solubility and aggregation measurements. Leveraging advanced nonlinear light scattering, Oryl Photonics has developed a laboratory instrument to measure how drugs dissolve in liquids, providing a critical information for the R&D of pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies, while saving precious resources.
- FHNW is a University of Applied Sciences and Arts that includes nine schools and different campuses across Northwestern Switzerland. The Institute of Pharma Technology is part of the School of Life Sciences with currently seven research groups working in different areas of Pharmaceutical Technology from formulation of small-molecular drugs to delivery of macromolecules. A particular focus of the group of Prof. Kuentz is the characterization of poorly water-soluble drugs and research on their oral formulation approaches.
- ALPhANOV is a French research and technology organization specializing in laser and optical technologies. It is renowned for its cutting-edge innovations and its state-of-the-art facilities, driving advancements in various industries.
