This website is a working tool for the Consortium ADAMANT.  ADAMANT is the acronym for Antibody Derivatives As Molecular Agents for Neoplastic Targeting, a three-year € 3,000,000  research project funded under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) commencing on April 1, 2008.

Under the umbrella of ADAMANT, nine teams  from six European countries -  comprising research institutes, universities, hospitals, foundations and small enterprises pursued research aimed at the discovery of improved anticancer therapies which rely on the antibody-based delivery of cytotoxic agents, radionuclides or immunostimulatory cytokines to tumour cells. The premise guiding the ADAMANT research consortium’s efforts is that this targeted approach of administration spares normal tissues,  reduces toxicity and achieves unprecedented efficacy.  

The project has built on a multidisciplinary approach involving an already consolidated team of chemists, pharmacologists, clinicians and clinical researchers, and endeavoured to bring the selected antibody + drug complexes from the basic research setting to the initial phases of clinical investigation.

A short summary of the final report, submitted to the European Union at the beginning of June 2011 is accessible here.  

The first reporting at 18 months was submitted to the EC in Dec 2009 showing that the project had fully achieved its objectives and technical goals in the period.  About 25 papers have been published in peer reviewed journals at the end of the first reporting period. At the end of the three years of activity, their number increased to about 50.   

Bearing in mind the 7-10 year time span normally needed to move a prospective agent through the pipeline and into clinical use, the benchmark of the project’s success  - be the transfer of at least one antibody-based tumour targeting agent to initial clinical studies has been reached. 

The core groups joining the ADAMANT consortium enjoy long-standing, dynamic relations, reflected in an enviable track record of jointly-authored publications. The scientists leading these groups are:

•    Raffaella Giavazzi, Coordinator, Milan, Italy
•    Dario Neri, Zurich, Switzerland
•    Alex Berndt, Jena, Germany
•    Matteo Zanda, Cagliari, Italy
•    Eveline Trachsel, Zurich, Switzerland
•    Silvia Marsoni,  Milano, Italy
•    Barbara Pedley, London, United Kingdom
•    Vincent Castronovo, Liège, Belgium
•    Guus Van Dongen,  Amsterdam, The Netherlands