Sanofi launches drug screening consortium

French drug major Sanofi-Aventis has launched the dScreen Consortium, a research initiative to develop the next generation of high-throughput screening for drug discovery applications.

Based in Strasbourg, France, the consortium includes: the drug screening expertise of Sanofi; Louis Pasteur University's experience with droplet-based microreactors; and USA-based RainDance Technologies' capabilities to apply droplet-based microfluidic technologies to human health and disease research.

The aim is to develop a digital microfluidic system for quantitative HTS of bio-active compounds using purified targets and cell-based assays. The very high throughput will enable the measurement of dose-response curves for every compound in a chemical library. Additionally, the partners hope to develop a new system for compound storage, in which each agent will be stored in droplets using a microfluidic device.