PICoCs INVESTMENT PROJECT
PROGRAM: “PICoCs” – Investment programs to fight Coronaviruses
Development Contract (Ministerial Decree of 09.12.2014)
Prot. CDS 000864
Beneficiaries:
- IRBM S.p.A.
- ADVAXIA Biologics S.r.l
The IRBM Group launches “PICoCs” (Investment Programs to fight Coronaviruses), a three-year investment program of 33 million euros, containing projects aimed at expanding the Group’s research and development activities in Pomezia (RM) for drugs and infrastructure.
The overall goal of the program is to give a synergistic response on several fronts to the fight against the Coronavirus family, through the strengthening of the IRBM and Advaxia Biologics companies, in terms of countering and treating other possible new infections that may occur in the coming years.
IRBM Investment Project
CUP C55H22000050001
The Project is made up of two integrated but distinct lines of intervention:
New Laboratories Project – the project aims at expanding the research activities of all the main scientific units of IRBM in order to enhance the operational capacity of the company laboratories and add functional spaces, and increase the range and quality of research services offered on the market, including the introduction of world-class cutting-edge scientific instrumentation.
The areas involved in the investment project include:
- DMPK
- High Throughput biology & Screening
- Display Technologies
- Medicinal Chemistry
- Peptide Chemistry
- High Content Biology & Screening
- Area New Biology
External Technical Unit Project: to support the New Laboratories Project, a new technical building will be built, with the aim of relocating and rationalizing activities currently distributed in the Main Building. The building will be a 2-story above-ground construction made of precast prestressed concrete structure, including infill paneling.
Financial support: Invitalia, the National Agency for Inward Investment and Economic Development (https://www.invitalia.it/eng) will support the Program through a “Contratto di Sviluppo” (Development Contract), a Grant for large investments, managed on behalf of the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy (https://www.mimit.gov.it/en/).
PICoCs R&D PROJECTS
PROGRAM: “PICoCs” – Investment programs to fight Coronaviruses
Development Contract (Ministerial Decree of 09.12.2014)
Prot. CDS 000864
Beneficiaries:
- IRBM S.p.A.
- ADVAXIA Biologics S.r.l
The IRBM Group launches “PICoCs” (Investment Programs to fight Coronaviruses), a three-year investment program of 33 million euros, containing projects aimed at expanding the Group’s research and development activities in Pomezia (RM) for drugs and infrastructure.
The overall objective of the program is to give a synergistic response on multiple fronts to the fight against the Coronavirus family, through the strengthening of the IRBM and Advaxia Biologics companies, in terms of countering and treatment of other possible new infections that could occur in the coming years.
In particular, the Research Program aims at the identification and development of two independent therapeutic strategies to prevent future pandemic outbreaks caused by new Coronaviruses. The Program is made up of two research lines independent from each other: a) pre-clinical studies of small molecules able to inhibit the helicase enzyme of Coronaviruses (RI1), and b) the identification of an interference mechanism that can be used in the context of the discontinuous synthesis of Coronavirus RNA (RI2).
Industrial Research Project RI1 “Identification and development of pan inhibitors of the Coronavirus helicase enzyme”
The aim of this project is to identify small molecules that can inhibit the helicase enzyme of Coronaviruses and to validate these drug candidates in animal models.
Industrial Research Project RI2 “Pan-Coronavirus inhibitors of the discontinuous synthesis of RNA”
The aim of the SP2 project is the identification of small molecules that could interfere with the discontinuous synthesis of Coronavirus RNA and their validation in in vivo pre-clinical models.
POINTEC Project – Strengthening the CNCCS Technological Infrastructure to Increase the Production of Excellent Research
Public notice “Research Infrastructures” 1.5.1 – Form A0301-2019-26667 of 03/25/2019
Deed of Commitment Prot. no. 0001568 of 01/16/2025
Beneficiaries:
- CNCCS Scarl
- IRBM S.p.A.
The CNCCS Consortium, in partnership with IRBM S.p.A., launched the POINTEC project—an 18-month investment program aimed at strengthening the CNCCS infrastructure, with a dual focus on the management of the collection of synthesized organic chemical compounds and its use in screening activities and drug discovery. The partnership aims to enhance both the technological infrastructure and the scientific network within the PNIR framework, steering CNCCS toward new research and technology transfer goals, while leveraging the experience gained through previous national and international collaborations.
Specifically, POINTEC is intended both to maintain the infrastructure’s status as a center of excellence—by modernizing a significant portion of its instrumentation—and to broaden collaborations across the European landscape. The project aims to evolve the research infrastructure into a European Central Facility and to establish connections with similar institutions in Europe. Participating institutions and research centers will be able to enrich the compound collection with their own submissions and benefit from access to the full sample collection for research and development purposes within their own projects.
Starting from the existing infrastructure, the proposed enhancement will focus on high-throughput technologies, structured around four main and interconnected pillars:
- Modernization of the compound management platform.
- Strengthening of the screening instrumentation platform.
- Technological advancement of the Phage Display platform.
- Technological advancements to accelerate the identification and characterization of new potential therapeutic agents (small molecules, antibodies, and peptides).