Announcement
Montreal, November 7, 2024 – CQDM is proud to announce the funding of a collaborative research project aimed at promoting the development of an academic antibody characterization platform to facilitate research and development of new drugs in neuroscience. This project, valued at nearly $4.1 million, is made possible in part by a grant from the Government of Quebec of approximately $1.49 million, along with a financial contribution of $1.79 million from YCharOS Inc.
Antibodies are essential tools in biopharmaceutical R&D for discovering and validating therapeutic targets and accelerating drug discovery. However, up to 60% of commercially available antibodies exhibit specificity defects, leading to erroneous data that slows down the development of therapeutics and incurs massive financial losses. YCharOS Inc., a young company based in Montreal, is committed to addressing this issue by raising research funding for antibody characterization testing. Through a strategic partnership with Professor Peter McPherson, a specialist in neurodegenerative diseases and proteomics at The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) ), and at the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology of McGill University, along with his associate Dr. Carl Laflamme, the platform will optimize antibody characterization by evaluating over 1,000 antibodies that are already commercially available from antibody suppliers and that are specific against targets of interest in neuroscience.
The results of this research will be publicly available to benefit the entire scientific community, while allowing antibody suppliers to refine their offerings and provide higher-quality products. The validated antibodies will enable more rigorous and reproducible characterization of new drug targets, will help facilitate R&D in neuroscience, and contribute to the development of new drugs. YCharOS Inc. already has close ties with 12 antibody suppliers representing over 60% of the global market and hopes to become a key player in antibody quality assurance, eventually engaging with pharmaceutical companies for the validation of antibodies in development intended for research, diagnostic tests or therapies.
«In Québec, we are fortunate enough to be able to count on a community of brilliant scientists who are working unrelentingly to accelerate the development of new treatments for neurological diseases. Our government is committed to empowering our professionals to showcase their expertise locally and internationally», said Minister Christopher Skeete, Quebec Minister for the Economy, Minister responsible for the Fight against Racism, and Minister responsible for the Laval region.
«We are proud to fund this project aimed at facilitating R&D in neuroscience. By developing an innovative platform for rigorous evaluation of antibodies, YCharOS paves the way for significant advances in the discovery and validation of targets for neurological diseases. This project addresses urgent needs in the industry and is a major asset in reducing validation costs for pharmaceutical companies, reinforcing our position as a leader in biotechnology», emphasized Diane Gosselin, President and CEO of CQDM.
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About CQDM
Facilitator of biopharma innovation
CQDM is a not-for-profit biopharmaceutical research consortium whose mission is to support and facilitate multi-stakeholder collaborative R&D aimed at accelerating the translation of innovative technologies by the biopharma industry into solutions that address unmet medical needs, while generating significant benefits for the Quebec and Canadian economy. For more information, please visit the website: www.cqdm.org and join us on Twitter/X @CQDM_Canada and LinkedIn.
About YCharOS Inc.
YCharOS Inc. is a Canadian, public interest, open science company with the mission of characterizing commercially available reagent antibodies for every human protein. More information on their website: www.ycharos.com
About the antibody characterization platform at McGill:
The platform’s data are consolidated into a single report per protein, with peer-reviewed reports available on the YCharOS F1000 Gateway: here.
Media contact:
Julia Serafino
Marketing & Communications Manager
CQDM
438-543-9498
[email protected]
