Assay development and drug discovery platformsprimary
4 projects
Central to all four H2020 projects — from neuron-glia network screening (NGN-PET, as coordinator) to solute carrier deorphanisation assays (ReSOLUTE, REsolution).
Organization
AXXAM SPA
Italian biotech SME providing assay development and screening platforms for drug discovery, specialized in solute carrier transporters and neurodegeneration targets.
Technology SMEhealthITSMENo active H2020 projects
H2020 projects
4
As coordinator
1
Total EC funding
€2.2M
Unique partners
35
What they do
Their core work
Axxam is an Italian biotech SME specializing in drug discovery services, particularly assay development and high-throughput screening for pharmaceutical targets. They build cellular and biochemical assays to characterize drug targets — from neurodegenerative disease pathways to membrane transport proteins (solute carriers). Their core value lies in translating complex biological questions into reproducible, industrialized screening platforms that pharma and biotech companies can use to find new drug candidates.
Core expertise
What they specialise in
Solute carrier (SLC) transporter biologyprimary
2 projects
Key contributor to both ReSOLUTE and REsolution, focused on assay development, deorphanisation, and genetic characterization of SLC drug targets.
Neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation targetssecondary
2 projects
Contributed to PHAGO (TREM2/CD33 microglia modulation in Alzheimer's) and coordinated NGN-PET (neuron-glia pain models).
Genomic engineering and functional genomicsemerging
2 projects
ReSOLUTE and REsolution involved genomic engineering, deep mutational scanning, and machine learning for variant effect prediction — newer capabilities layered onto their assay platform.
Evolution & trajectory
How they've shifted over time
Early focus
Neurodegeneration drug targets
Recent focus
Solute carrier transporter platforms
Axxam's early H2020 work (2016–2018) focused on neurodegeneration — Alzheimer's disease targets like TREM2 and CD33, and neuron-glia pain models. From 2018 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward solute carrier transporters as an underexplored drug target class, with two consecutive projects (ReSOLUTE and REsolution) building knowledgebases and assay platforms for SLCs. This evolution shows a company moving from disease-specific assay work toward becoming a systematic platform provider for an entire target class.
Axxam is deepening its position as a go-to assay development partner for membrane transporter drug discovery, increasingly integrating genomics and machine learning into their screening platforms.
Collaboration profile
How they like to work
Role: specialist_contributorReach: European11 countries collaborated
Axxam primarily joins consortia as a specialist partner (3 of 4 projects), contributing assay development and screening expertise to larger teams. They coordinated one project (NGN-PET), showing they can lead but prefer the specialist contributor role. With 35 unique partners across 11 countries, they operate as a well-connected service provider comfortable in both mid-sized academic consortia and large IMI public-private partnerships.
Axxam has collaborated with 35 unique partners across 11 countries, indicating strong pan-European connectivity for a small biotech. Their participation in IMI2 (Innovative Medicines Initiative) projects places them at the intersection of academic research and major pharma companies.
Why partner with them
What sets them apart
Axxam occupies a specific niche: they are an independent, SME-scale assay development company that can build industrial-grade screening platforms for academic and pharma partners alike. Their dual expertise in neurodegeneration targets and solute carrier biology is uncommon for a company of their size. For consortium builders, they offer something hard to find — a commercially minded partner who can take a biological hypothesis and turn it into a validated, scalable drug discovery assay.
Notable projects
Highlights from their portfolio
- ReSOLUTELargest funding (EUR 1.17M) and part of a major IMI2 initiative to systematically map and deorphanise the entire solute carrier transporter family as drug targets.
- NGN-PETAxxam's only coordinator role — they led development of a neuron-glia network screening platform for pain drug discovery.
- PHAGOHigh-profile Alzheimer's project targeting TREM2 and CD33 in microglia, placing Axxam in a top-tier neurodegeneration consortium.
Cross-sector capabilities
Pharmaceutical drug discovery servicesFunctional genomics and variant screeningPain therapeuticsMembrane protein biology
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