The Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), a BIST centre, and the German company AiCuris (Anti-infective Cures) GmbH have signed an initial contract for work on medicinal chemistry projects to be carried out by five ICIQ researchers.
The AiCuris-ICIQ joint unit team
AiCuris is a pharmaceutical company founded in 2006 as a spin-off from Bayer’s virology and bacteriology research department. The company focuses on the discovery, research, and development of novel, resistance-breaking antiviral and antibacterial agents for the treatment of severe and potentially life-threatening infectious diseases. As of July 1, 2020, research activities have began in the ICIQ-AiCuris joint unit with a team of five researchers.
ICIQ-Industry joint units are a unique formula for large collaborative research projects. These kinds of collaborations involve one exclusively dedicated laboratory and take advantage of ICIQ’s group leaders and its state-of-the-art instrumentation facilities. These collaborations have an 11-year track record at ICIQ. The joint unit with AiCuris is the third of its kind, following a unit with Esteve which ran from 2009 to 2020 and a unit with Henkel which ran from 2010 to 2019.
“We see great potential for this Joint Unit with ICIQ, not only in terms of generating results but also with regards to interactions with our extended network of collaborators, including other ongoing activities at ICIQ, ” says Dr. Helmut Buschmann, Head of Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Development, and Patent Affairs at AiCuris.
ICIQ and AiCuris started working together in 2015 and have steadily grown in their collaboration, expanding into various areas of AiCuris’ drug discovery and development activities. Among their shared projects is VIRO-FLOW, an industrial Innovative Training Network (Horizon 2020).
“In AiCuris we have found an ideal industrial partner for ICIQ, as we collaborate in highly innovative projects where both parties develop new technologies and products, as well as in projects supporting AiCuris’ drug development activities. The addition of the AiCuris-ICIQ Joint Unit opens a new and very exciting area of collaboration,” says Prof. Miquel A. Pericàs, ICIQ Director.
More information can be found on the ICIQ website.
