The objective of IMODE is to enhance R&D on major societal challenges for improved healthcare by developing solutions for novel pharmaceutical products and medical devices through new multicomponent drug systems. It is based on the international joint collaboration between academic research groups, 2 SMEs, one large company and one economic development agency.
The project has started on 1 July 2016 and will end on 30 June 2021. It has obtained two 6-month extensions in 2020 (one requested and one automatically granted because of the Covid-19)

Based on a rich and fruitful cross border cooperation, many remarkable achievements have been obtained in three categories:

1/ New Materials & Formulations with improved properties (solubility, stability, efficacy, robustness):

• 6 novel pharmaceutical cocrystals
• 1 new non-viral hybrid polysaccharide nanogel for gene delivery
• 1 new thin polymeric film for “colon targeting” drug
• 1 new bio-based excipient for controlled release

2/ New Processing Technologies, Protocols & Methodologies:

• 2 new processes for efficient pharmaceutical cocrystals synthesis
• 1 smarter protocol to improve the dissolution rate of poorly water soluble drugs in a polymer matrix
• 1 faster methodology to determine the complex phase diagramme of drugs dispersed in polymer matrices
• 2 new experimental/numerical techniques for faster cocrystals screening

3/ New Medical Devices: 2 new stents for the treatment of coronary artery diseases including in vivo/in vitro texts and exome analysis

Practically, all activities have generated:

• 22 scientific publications in high impact factor journals
• 39 oral presentations at prestigious international conferences
• 4 patents filed + 2 “Invention disclosure” submitted
• 6 conventions ( 1 x Greenwich, 4 x Lille BIOFIT&MEDFIT, 1x Marseille BIOFIT) including participants from academia and companies
• A "mutlitude" of B2B meetings between academics and companies
• 1 Final Event organized online in the framework of BIOFIT(Dec 2020, Lille)
• 2 training schools (University of East-Anglia &University of Lille 2018)
• 11 PhDs trained

The IMODE partnership has also strongly contributed to obtain the Erasmus+ Joint Master BIOPHAM "Bio&Pharmaceutial Materials Science"

8 Outputs over the expected 9 Outputs have been already delivered. 1 Output related to WP2 "Innovative medical devices" has been significantly delayed because of the Covid-19 but will be delivered before the end of the project.