ZeClinics has recently been awarded an EIC-Pathfinder Challenge by the European Innovation Council (EIC). Pathfinder are grants targeting specific strategic priorities with early-stage development of radically new technology and high-risk/high-gain breakthrough research. EdiGenT is one of the 8 selected projects over 132 eligible proposals in the strategic area of “Emerging technologies in cell and gene therapy”.

 ZeClinics will receive €986k of funding and the consortium will count on a total of €3.9M to transform gene therapy and set the basis of new therapeutic avenues for genetic disease.

The EdiGenT consortium is composed of 5 international partners from 3 European countries (Spain, Nederlands, and France), including a high-tech SME (ZeClinics), and four prestigious research centres and universities (Institut de la Vision/Sorbonne University, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle/INSERM, Institut Imagine/IGD, and Erasmus MC). It brings together multidisciplinary expertise on cutting-edge technologies and knowledge across different fields and disciplines, through the combination of highly complementary skills.

The initiative seeks to address the four major challenges that currently face conventional gene therapy approaches for various human genetic disorders. These challenges include the delivery system of gene editing machinery, the efficiency of gene modifications, the safety of the therapeutic approach, and the high cost of the treatments.

The EdiGenT consortium will work to overcome these issues by developing a new generation of more efficient gene correction tools based on the CRISPR/Cas9 system, and non-viral delivery strategies for gene therapy. The efficacy and safety of the breakthrough approaches will be assessed using cell-based assays, zebrafish, and humanized mouse models. The new technology will be applied to develop an innovative genetic therapy against Sickle Cell Disease, the most common monogenic disorder that affects more than 300,000 newborns annually. It is estimated that the number could increase up to 400,000 by 2050.