Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine
Infectious diseases continue to be one of the biggest global threats to human health — partly because of evolving drug resistance and partly due to the emergence of new diseases. The International Consortium for Anti-Infective Research, iCAIR®, comprising the Institute for Glycomics at Griffith University in Australia, the Hannover Medical School, the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and Fraunhofer ITEM, has set itself the objective of closing the gap between the discovery of new active substances and developing them into usable therapeutics. To this end, iCAIR® is focusing on the scientific development and testing of novel viral inhibitors and on business development to strengthen the iCAIR® brand.
To develop iCAIR®’s own drug candidates as well as to conduct research on behalf of industry, Fraunhofer researchers have been working closely with the researchers from the iGUARD project to establish state-of-the-art in-vivo infection models. These models augment the preclinical portfolio to help ensure the safety and efficacy of new medicines and enable subsequent clinical trials.
Based on their preclinical expertise and their collaboration, iCAIR® partners Griffith University and Fraunhofer ITEM were selected by the Australian government to showcase the iCAIR® consortium in a round table discussion at the Swiss Biotech Days 2023. At BIO-Europe 2023, international networks were formed with industry and institutions such as the Australian QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in order to establish iCAIR® as a recognized platform for drug development.
