Research Projects

Dementia affects around 50 M people globally (mainly over 65 years old) and has high associated costs (~ $1 trillion per year). 60%-80% cases correspond to Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), which is expected to continue increasing exponentially in the next decades. At present, there are several disease-modifying treatments for AD in development, but once...

Bio2Brain aims to create a trans-European network of industrially oriented specialists fully trained and experienced, a significant driving force in innovating novel technologies to deliver biopharmaceuticals safely and via the nasal route of administration to the central nervous system (CNS). Diseases of the CNS and the spinal cord affect around...

Neurodegeneration associated with Parkinson’s (PD) and Alzheimer’s (AD) diseases begins several years prior to the appearance of clinical symptoms and in total, over eight million people in Europe were living with PD or AD in year 2010. Currently, there are no diagnostic tools which allow for early diagnose and/or monitoring the progression these...

Brain disorders impose an increasing economical and social burden in the member states of the European Union (EU). For most neurodegenerative diseases and many neuropsychiatric disorders no efficient treatment is available and no cure exists. In the next coming years the number of particularly elderly people suffering from brain disorders will...

Neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, frontotemporal dementias and prion diseases affect ~50 million people worldwide. Alzheimer’s disease, the most prevalent form, affects ~6% of the population over 65 years of age and is one of the leading causes of death in the elderly. All these diseases have...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related disorders leading to dementia are associated with staggering costs and suffering. Recently, there has been some progress in the search for effective therapeutic interventions and it is clear that any treatment is likely to be most effective if administered at the earliest stage of disease, but the health care...

PHARMA-COG aims to develop a new integrated model to accelerate the development of drug candidates for MS, PKD and AD. The innovation relies on a 'multidimensional matrix' approach, integrating all available and renewed inputs (biomarkers/animal, human models/physiological and pharmacological challenges, Phase 0/1/1b to reduce the attrition rate...

Elderly people are frequently affected by a decline of mental and physical abilities, which results in anxiety, frailty, loneliness and reclusiveness. Often these persons live alone, spatially separated from their families and friends, not able to meet or visit them on a regular basis. The risk of developing dementia can be reduced by playing...

Neurodegenerative diseases all cause damage to the circuitry of the nervous system, with loss of connections, axons and neurons. The loss can be gradual, as in Alzheimer’s disease, rapid as in stroke, or intermediate as in the delayed neuronal loss after stroke. Following damage, the nervous system is able partially to compensate through the...

The current nosology of neuropsychiatric disorders allows for a pragmatic approach to treatment choice, regulation and clinical research. However, without a biological rationale for these disorders, drug development has dramatically stagnated in the past decades. In a coordinated effort encompassing academic experts, SMEs, patient and family...

The overall prevalence of brain disorders – both neurological and psychiatric – is very high in Europe. Although it is well known that the burden and costs of these disorders are high, there is evidence that the overall, personal, social and economic costs of brain disorders have been underestimated because of the lack of valid and reliable...

The changing demographic is one of the greatest challenges in Europe. With an expected 25% of the population over 65 by 2030, the incidence of neurodegenerative age-linked diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s is likely to increase. They severely impact quality of life and to date, therapies can only treat the symptoms. Oligomerization and...