There is an acute need for new medicines for the treatment of chronic widespread high-penetrance diseases in the western world.

In spite of the increasing cost of drug development (€1.2 billion is the current estimate for completing the bench-to-bed path), a majority of compounds fail in the clinic. This occurs against a background where current therapies are burdened, especially on chronic administration, by substantial side effects that limit their use and efficacy.

To fill this gap, EVOluTION (European Vascular Interventions and Therapeutic Innovation Network) has created a doctorate programme to deliver innovative training on preclinical and clinical science, commercial and business aspects, intellectual property and more, covering the multiple aspects of the drug discovery and development process. The scientific response to the unmet need is a focus on endogenous tissue protective mediators as a new way to therapeutic innovation Therapeutic strategies developed on processes operative in our body to heal and repair will be innovative in their mode of action.

Scientific themes

EVOluTION is structured around three scientific themes, selected to provide ample yet coordinated training on modes and approaches emerging within endogenous tissue protection:

• ST1: Endogenous Tissue Protection: exploiting dietary approaches
• ST2: Endogenous Tissue Protection: exploiting innovative targets and mediators
• ST3: Endogenous Tissue Protection: developing innovative therapeutic approaches.

Research objectives

To develop our scientific themes, we formulated four specific research objectives:

• RO1: Mechanisms by which dietary approaches boost tissue protection
• RO2: Endogenous tissue protective mediators
• RO3: Pro-Resolving Receptors
• RO4: Proof-of-concept approaches for innovative therapeutics.

These ROs are addressed in corresponding four scientific work packages (WP1, WP2, WP3, WP4), which are complemented by Training (WP5), Exploitation (WP6), Science in Society (WP7) and Project management (WP8).