We are delighted to announce that the Open PHACTS project will be extendedfor 18 months until the end of February 2016. For the extension two new partners – Laboratorios Almirall S.A. and SciBite Limited – will join the consortium and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will act as coordinator.

The Open PHACTS project has made excellent progress during the first 3.5 years and has delivered a robust infrastructure for effective integration of pre-clinical drug-discovery data, the Open PHACTS Discovery Platform. The Open PHACTS Discovery Platform uses semantic technologies to provide a robust, adaptable framework for integration of multiple data sources into a professional API. The project also delivered a set of Example Applications, which provide users with unique capabilities to create new knowledge. The Open PHACTS Discovery Platform also retains and gives full transparency on data provenance and we have developed a model for solving the problem of connecting sources provided under different licenses. Finally, the Open PHACTS Foundation (OPF), a not-for-profit membership organisation, has been established and added as beneficiary to the project. The Foundation will ensure the sustainability of the Open PHACTS Discovery Platform and act as a hub for relevant scientific research and development.

The project extension aims to tackle new scientific challenges and use cases (e.g. personalized healthcare and target validation). To pursue this aim, commercial data sources and proprietary in-house data will be integrated to enhance usability for EFPIA companies and open up new avenues of sustainability for the Open PHACTS Discovery Platform. We also plan to add additional platform functionalities, such as new taxonomies and workflow capabilities, to increase the search capabilities and open up new use cases. Moreover, connecting to workflow tools will provide unprecedented search flexibility and complexity across multiple domains. Expansion towards new use cases will also involve engaging existing and upcoming IMI projects (e.g. eTOX, ELF, K4DD, eTRIKS, EMIF) and other initiatives.