The CIMA of the University of Navarra is 5 years old.
Peptide 144 has been accepted for clinical research by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Last September, the University of Navarra's CIMA celebrated its first five-year anniversary. During this time, more than 40 patents have been developed at different stages of development, such as peptide 144, which heads the pipeline. "Five years ago it was a dream to develop a drug with clinical applicability. However, we have already reached phase II of a European multicenter essay with patients affected by scleroderma and at the end of this year we will obtain the definitive results," explains Francisco Errasti, director general of the CIMA
Recently the study of peptide 144 has been accepted for clinical research by the US Food and Drug Administration as an IND (investigational new drug). "If the results obtained in Europe are positive by the end of the year, an accelerated (fast drug) registration process for this drug will begin in the USA. In other words, clinical trials would begin in the USA", reports Pablo Ortiz, director general manager of Digna Biotech. This biotech business detects the results of research of CIMA at an early stage and protects its intellectual property. It then takes care of the preclinical programs of study , clinical trials and the documentation process.
The Foundation for Applied Medical research is the owner of CIMA. "The institutions and individuals involved in funding CIMA are aware of the importance of biomedical research , but feel a responsibility to collaborate on something that is so important and provides so many benefits to society. I am convinced that talent will solve the crisis: creating new forms of wealth for society based on knowledge will encourage a growing interest in investing in research", says Francisco Errasti.
Impulse multidisciplinary
issue Since its inauguration, the CIMA has doubled the number of professionals, which now exceeds 400 people from some twenty countries. The researchers agree in highlighting that one of the advantages of creating this building has been the impulse of work multidisciplinary . "We are all together, which facilitates the cooperative work to establish synergies. For example, we have expanded our research vision, since we interact with Oncology, Hepatology and Neurosciences," explains Dr. Javier Díez, director of the area of Cardiovascular Sciences. In the opinion of Dr. Luis Montuenga, director of the Oncology area , "we have gone from a good research to a leading research , which competes with other prestigious centers". "All this with a single approach: to improve the lives of patients," says Dr. Julio Artieda, director of area of Neurosciences.
In addition to the areas of research, the CIMA completes its infrastructure with support units. For Dr. Jesús Prieto, director of area of Gene Therapy and Hepatology, "core facilities are essential in biomedical activity. The success of the large centers of research is dictated by the quality and the Degree of update of these central services".