PRIMUS - Press Release - Financial Support Confirmation

Nantes and Rennes, May 30th 2023

PRIMUS Project: €26.3 Million to Personalize the Choice of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Treatment
 

The French National Research Agency (ANR) has confirmed its support for the Primus project, which focuses on the development of decision support tools for the treatment of multiple sclerosis within a large public-private consortium.
 

With the signing of the grant agreement on May 25, 2023, by the Director-General of the National Research Agency (ANR) and the Director-General of the University Hospital Center of Rennes, the ANR officially endorses the ambition of the PRIMUS project. As the winner of the 5th wave of the RHU call for projects at the end of 2021, the PRIMUS project aims to develop and validate technological tools for therapeutic decision-making for neurologists and individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). The ANR has allocated €8,271,646 in funding, contributing to a total budget of €26,312,000.

This project brings together several academic partners, including the University Hospital Center of Rennes (scientific and technical lead, Prof. G. Edan) and the University Hospital Center of Nantes (scientific director, Prof. PA Gourraud), as well as the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), INRIA (Empenn laboratory), Nantes Université, the University of Rennes, the b‹›com Research and Technological Institute (Rennes), the French Clinical Research Infrastructure Network for Multiple Sclerosis (FCRIN 4MS), and the French Multiple Sclerosis Observatory (OFSEP), in collaboration with 25 French university hospital expert centers for multiple sclerosis.

The project also involves the laboratories of Merck and Biogen, which provide their digital expertise and clinical trial data on MS, as well as the Grenoble-based startup Pixyl, specializing in the development and commercialization of image processing tools.

Over the course of five years, the project aims to achieve commercial deployment of a comprehensive digital tool for treating neurologists and MS patients. For the first time, an automatic analysis of brain and spinal cord MRIs will be included in a clinical decision support system (CDSS), providing neurologists with data and experience obtained from a cohort of over 10,000 patients. These digital medical devices, evaluated through a clinical study in 28 French hospitals, with the University Hospital Center of Nantes as the promoter (Prof. D. Laplaud), will be developed by Pixyl and CE-marked.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease of the central nervous system affecting over 120,000 people in France and 2.3 million people worldwide. Current treatments (19 active molecules on the market) can alleviate symptoms and slow down the progression of the disease, but it is often challenging to determine the most suitable treatment for each patient at the right time. Thanks to its decision support software, the PRIMUS project will enable healthcare professionals to propose personalized and tailored treatments for each patient by simultaneously analyzing clinical trial data and OFSEP data.

We are delighted to collaborate with such prestigious partners to develop these decision support tools. We hope that PRIMUS will improve the management of patients with multiple sclerosis and shape the practices of the future.
 

Professor Gilles Edan, Neurologist at the University Hospital Center of Rennes, scientific leader of the PRIMUS RHU.

At a time when data and artificial intelligence are frequently discussed, we demonstrate that it is possible to leverage accumulated data and the computational power to make better treatment choices at the right time for complex diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

Professor Pierre-Antoine Gourraud, Bioinformatician at the University Hospital Center of Nantes, scientific director of the PRIMUS RHU.

This work receives support from the French government managed by the National Research Agency as part of the 3rd PIA (Investments for the Future Program), integrated into France 2030, with reference number ANR-21-RHUS-0014.