R&D Strategy
At Ferrer, we focus on identifying projects with differential value
We consider innovation an inherent part of our pharmaceutical activities, and we have always upheld our commitment to searching for and developing new treatment alternatives aimed at responding to unmet medical needs in order to create value for patients, doctors, health systems and society at large.
With our R&D activity, Ferrer aims to achieve a portfolio of projects with differential treatment value, balanced in terms of risk and degree of innovation, incremental and disruptive, and centred on the company's two therapeutic areas of focus:
Pulmonary vascular and interstitial diseases
Neurological disorders
The objective of the company's R&D activities is to create value for patients, health systems and society at large by responding to unmet medical needs.
With these shared, aligned strategic objectives, the company's R&D activity is distributed across four units:
R&D Search and Evaluation
R&D Search and Evaluation is the department within the R&D Area that seeks and identifies new innovation projects of external or internal origin that align with Ferrer's R&D strategy. Evaluation is conducted in close collaboration with other departments in cross-functional teams. The Ferrer Open capture platform promotes and facilitates contact with the most innovative players in the ecosystem to attract and, in some cases, co-create treatment solutions with added value that fall within Ferrer's areas of specialisation: pulmonary vascular and interstitial lung diseases and neurological disorders.
R&D Portfolio Management
The R&D Portfolio Management department handles the innovation portfolio and leads projects to create a more sustainable, transparent and efficient R&D. It promotes sustainability by aligning the portfolio with the business strategy and managing the entry of new projects. It promotes efficiency and transparency in the management and leadership of R&D projects through multidisciplinary coordination, teamwork, communication and monitoring of milestones and results. It manages the committee for incorporating new projects and the committee for monitoring projects in the portfolio.
Digital health and technology
This department leads innovation in digital health, the meeting point of technology, health, healthcare and society. Through the "Ferrer 4 Future" programme, we put challenges to the entrepreneurial ecosystem and collaborate with technology-based companies to solve them. In 2020, we focused on solutions for neurological disorders that present with movement abnormalities.
Alexza
This is a Ferrer company established in Mountain View, California (United States), which owns the proprietary Staccato® platform for pulmonary administration of active ingredients, which achieves, through a non-invasive route, identical pharmacokinetics to intravenous administration by a non-invasive route. Alexza projects induce a clinical response within minutes of inhaled drug administration. They are aimed at the acute symptomatic treatment of central nervous system diseases. Alexza has various products in active development in fields such as Parkinson's disease and gastroenterology.
How the Staccato® system works
The Staccato device contains a rapid heating system capable of reaching very high temperatures in as little as 100 milliseconds, so that the unformulated active ingredient, deposited in a thin layer on a stainless steel substrate, is vaporised. When the patient inhales through the Staccato system, the surface of the stainless steel substrate is instantly heated, creating aerosolised drug particles.
The patient inhales these particles, and their size allows them to reach the deepest and most vascularised areas of the lung. This achieves rapid and complete absorption into the bloodstream.
Our projects in development:
The Project FNP 002 in the field of epilepsy has been licensed to UCB.
Alliances and collaborations
Ferrer’s constant commitment to innovation means that a strategy of alliances and collaboration with public research bodies and prestigious biotech companies is essential.
ADVANCE (CAT) is a consortium led by the University of Barcelona and Ferrer, made up of by eighteen reference health organizations. As such, it integrates the main biomedical research and teaching centers in Catalonia, as well as public bodies , private foundations and Catalan healthcare companies.
The aim of the ADVANCECAT project is to create an organizational structure to accelerate the development of new advanced therapy medicines, for better management of resources in order to obtain the maximum benefit in the Catalan health system. The creation of a new collaborative network avoids possible overlaps between the various participating institutions and allows them to work in a coordinated way. The main areas of focus are cell therapy, gene therapy and tissue engineering.
The key success of the project has been the integration of organizations in the field of biomedical research, its clinical application and its industrial production. Together, strengths and opportunities have been identified to meet the challenges presented in the field of advanced therapies, enhance research and accelerate the development of new products with a qualitative impact on health systems. These serve as a basis for promoting new economic opportunities in Catalonia. Among the most important results of the whole project are the 8 Phase I and II clinical trials of advanced therapies that have been or are being carried out, in which 171 patients have been treated. In addition, 32 articles have been published in international journals and 3 are pending approval.
Organizations that form part of the ADVANCECAT project:
University of Barcelona (leader), Ferrer (co-leader), Banc de Sang i Teixits, Barcelona Macula Foundation, Bioibérica SA, Butler Scientifics SL, Centre de Medicina Regenerativa de Barcelona, Fundació Bosch i Gimpera, FC Barcelona Universitas - Muscletech Network, Fundació Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron - Institut de Recerca, Fundació Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya, Fundació Institut d’Investigacions en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol, Fundació Institut de Recerca de l’Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Fundació Leitat - Muscletech Network, Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica August Pi i Sunyer, Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge, Tecnologia Regenerativa Qrem, i Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
The project is integrated into the NEXTHEALTH community, and has been co-financed by the European Union within the framework of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Catalonia 2014-2020 operational program.
UNIÓN EUROPEA – FONDO EUROPEO DE DESARROLLO REGIONAL