Funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe, grant agreement No 101310106.
FULL TITLE
Precision oncology platform for personalised cannabinoid-based cancer therapies
ACRONYM
GRANT AGREEMENT
101310106
PROGRAMME
Horizon Europe, Widening participation and strengthening the ERA (HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-02-ACCESS-01), EIC Pre-Accelerator
GRANTING AUTHORITY
European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA)
DURATION
1 July 2026 – 30 June 2028 (24 months)
COORDINATOR
EndoVia Therapeutics d.o.o., Maribor, Slovenia
Cannabinoids show anti-tumour activity in laboratory studies, but patients respond very differently, and there are no validated biomarkers or tools that tell clinicians or drug developers who is likely to benefit. As a result, cannabinoids in oncology are mostly used by trial and error or limited to symptom relief.
PRECISION-ECS develops a digital twin of melanoma: a computational model of each tumour that combines patient-derived tumour cell models, multi-omics profiling of the endocannabinoid system, and mechanistic, AI-supported simulation of how the tumour responds to specific cannabinoid compounds and combinations with standard therapies. Once trained, the model aims to predict responses for new tumours without repeating laboratory testing.
01 — Establish reproducible, ethically sourced patient-derived melanoma cell models.
02 — Map cannabinoid responses against ECS biomarker profiles and define responder and non-responder signatures.
03 — Build and validate an explainable in silico prediction model.
04 — Confirm predictive accuracy and safety in stratified preclinical models, reaching technology readiness level 6.
05 — Prepare the regulatory, intellectual property and commercial pathway toward clinical validation.
Patient-derived melanoma models from residual surgical tissue, collected with informed consent and ethics approval.
In vitro screening and biomarker stratification.
In silico modelling and systems pharmacology.
In vivo validation in stratified preclinical models.
Exploitation, regulatory planning and stakeholder engagement.
The project will deliver a preclinical demonstrator that helps oncologists and drug developers select compounds, identify likely responders and design combination strategies with standard therapies. It supports Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the EU Digital Health Strategy by moving cannabinoid oncology from empirical use toward data-driven, personalised treatment.
PRECISION-ECS is carried out by EndoVia Therapeutics, a spin-out of the University of Maribor, in collaboration with clinical and research partners in Slovenia.
Public deliverables, publications and news from the project will be listed here as they become available. All peer-reviewed publications from PRECISION-ECS are published open access.
Project coordinator: Dr Jan Rožanc, EndoVia Therapeutics
info@endovia.eu
Funding acknowledgement and disclaimer
PRECISION-ECS has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme under grant agreement No 101310106.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.