FAQ: Closing of the ELF

ELF has received two rounds of funding from the Innovative Health Initiative, formerly the Innovative Medicines Initiative. Sustainability was a core part of the project from the very first beginning. Throughout, the partnership focused its efforts on the continuation of the ELF, actively exploring several avenues to maintain the ELF compound library beyond the lifetime of the project. Over the course of 2023, the priorities and remits of several partners changed, as did the world of drug discovery and funding opportunities. As such, the possibility for the continuation of compound sharing within the ELF became a reality that was no longer achievable, which is why the ELF has wrapped up its activities. 

We do hope that new funding opportunities arise that will make the sharing of a screening infrastructure and compound collection possible, so that the ELF can collaborate again. In the meantime, it is possible to collaborate with the various different partners that constituted part of the ELF. Please contact us if you would like to know more. 

The impacts of the project have been multi-fold and continue to become visible. Since 2013, more than 300 drug discovery programmes have been run at the ELF. These high-quality programmes have led to a balanced portfolio of innovative disease targets, the results of which are increasingly being made public, indicating the long-lasting impact that the ELF can generate.

Over 100 publications have come out of ELF collaborations and more than 20 programmes became available for partnering. Spin-off companies Scandicure and Keapstone Therapeutics were created based on work performed at the ELF. More recently, the ELF has helped identify two drug candidates for cancer treatment that have now progressed to phase 1 clinical trial testing. Furthermore, work at the ELF has contributed to the discovery of a new class of drug that has the potential to reverse antibiotic resistance for conditions such as pneumonia and sepsis. Another study executed in collaboration with the ELF led to the identification of a compound that contributes to the reduction of traumatic memories. When COVID-19 hit, ELF fast-tracked the review and execution of COVID-19 related screening programmes and collaborated with another consortium to help identify novel small molecule inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2 viral entry into host cells.  The ELF also contributed to the education of close to 100 European investigators across various EU countries, by bringing them in touch with experts in screening, assay development and early drug discovery.

The various testimonials of ELF partners and collaborators give a taste of how the partnership has helped push their work forward. An overview of the impact of the ELF was published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery at the end of 2021.

A handful of programmes has entered phase 1 clinical trials, and we expect more to follow over the upcoming years. 

An extensive overview of the ELF impact can be found here: https://elfendofprojectreport.europeanleadfactory.eu/

You can still contact us at programme@europeanleadfactory.eu. We love to hear exciting news and are happy to answer any questions you might have, so please do not hesitate to reach out.