Pre-commercialization of circadian clock-drug interactions screening tool for therapeutic applications

Introduction

Circadian clocks carry immense importance to human health, as clock disruption is related to various malignancies from sleep disorders through diabetes to cancer. Furthermore, many drug targets are influenced by circadian clocks. In order to maximize a drug’s efficacy while minimizing side effects, it is necessary to consider the drug’s time-of-administration, also known as “chronotherapy.” These revelations are critical for drug administration and development.

Challenges in Implementation

However, their practical implementation is tempered by the lack of suitable research tools that bridge the gap from the bench to the clinic. The time-dependent effect of an intervention on the clock is represented by the Phase Transition Curve (PTC). PTC retrieval is laborious and challenging; consequently, they were mostly overlooked in the pharmaceutical R&D process.

Project Overview

In the ERC Project CIRCOMMUNICATION, we studied clock-resetting mechanisms, which led to the development of CircaSCOPE, an efficient high-throughput methodology for high-resolution PTC construction. CircaSCOPE can be used as a powerful screening method for clock-modulating drugs, either for the purpose of:

1. Targeting pathologies associated with circadian disruption
2. Identifying drugs which elicit unwanted side effects on the clock

Once fully developed and systematically integrated into chrono-medicine, CircaSCOPE has the potential to improve drug discovery and yield medicines with a better therapeutic index.

Commercialization Plan

Here, we detail our plan for the first steps toward the commercialization of our innovation. We will demonstrate the applicability of this approach through drug library screens and expand the repertoire of cell types that the system relies on.

Future Directions

In addition, we will explore different commercialization strategies and interact with potential stakeholders and end-users. Given the medical importance of circadian effects, we envision that CircaSCOPE will become a gold-standard procedure in future drug development.