European Lead Factory (ELF)
The European Lead Factory translates early-stage fundamental biological research into credible and investable starting points for drug discovery campaigns.
The European Lead Factory is a collaborative public-private partnership aiming to deliver innovative drug discovery starting points. Hosting the ESCulab Compound Collection and the European Screening Center, the European Lead Factory gives free access to up to 550,000 novel chemical compounds and a unique industry-standard HTS platform.
The European Lead Factory is open to screening programmes related to all human disease areas and all types of defined molecular targets. Any researcher from any European academic institute or small and medium-sized enterprise can apply for screening of their potential drug target.
Over the next five years, the European Lead Factory will initiate 185 new drug discovery projects by screening medically relevant drug targets from European researchers, small and medium-sized enterprises and pharmaceutical industry against the ELF library of 550,000 unique chemical compounds.
The project has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 806948: ‘ESCulab: European Screening Centre; Unique Library for Attractive Biology’. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV).