CNCCS: Goals and Achievement

With regard to the problems and issues of Rare and Neglected Diseases raised and discussed during the first day of the workshop on November 19th by the speakers Maurizio Pocchiari (ISS), Gianni Rezza (ISS) and Francesco Rio (WHO), the CNCCS is committed to becoming an active player in the solution of these problems, which require an innovative approach. Dr. Ralph Laufer, Scientific Director of IRBM Science Park, made a presentation of the Consortium’s goals and achievements in the course of 2011.

The most important achievements have been to create a collection of molecules that includes approx. 100,000 chemical compounds; to identify new leads through screening this collection; a number of patents deposited for the treatment of malaria and beta-thalassemia and establishing a number of important national and international scientific collaborations. CNCCS has become part of the European scientific infrastructure as part of EATRIS, a non-profit organization for translational research that includes other centres of excellence throughout Europe.