26. July 2011 Helmholtz Head Office

Helmholtz Association provides long-term infrastructure for API research

Working across its various research centres, the Helmholtz Association develops important research themes that will help take society and government forward into the future. One of these themes is API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) research, which is guaranteed long-term funding by the Joint Initiative for Research and Innovation.

Chronic, complex illnesses and barely treatable infectious diseases are becoming increasingly common in our ever-changing society. This presents researchers and medical scientists with huge challenges. In order to tackle these problems more effectively in the future, safe and effective pharmaceutical drugs need to be developed more quickly and in a more targeted way. Transferring newly developed active ingredients into clinical use also requires long-term commitment; rising development costs in the pharmaceutical industry have caused API research to stagnate in recent years.

Working with external partners, the Helmholtz Centres that focus on health aim to bundle their extensive interdisciplinary basic research and existing API research expertise in a shared ultra-modern chemical-biological platform. “This shared technology platform, which was made possible thanks to API research networking between Helmholtz health centres and their partners, will allow us to work on projects with a very extensive biological approach that no other consortium can currently rival,” says Prof Jürgen Mlynek, President of the Helmholtz Association. “Thanks to the €3.5 million in funding we are receiving each year from the Joint Initiative for Research and Innovation, we can create a unique and long-lasting API research infrastructure that will allow us to develop new therapies for both common and rare diseases.”

Added value of Helmholtz API research

The development of Helmholtz API research is part of a general strategy to effectively pool the partners’ substance databases and their core competencies in developing biologically relevant testing methods. Furthermore, this close collaboration will enable researchers to more quickly clarify correlations and mechanisms of action and to detect any possible side or synergistic effects in good time. “To develop therapies as effectively as possible, chemical and clinical considerations need to be incorporated into basic biological research at a very early stage,” says Dr Ronald Frank, API research coordinator and spokesman. “In future, this close collaboration between all the partners and the pooling of competencies will allow us to optimise API research, in terms of both quality and quantity. This will increase the number of high-quality API candidates available for clinical use in key medical areas and for further pharmaceutical development.”