PROCURE4HEALTH wish to engage with interested suppliers in the marketplace through an Open Market Consultation (OMC) for the future Pre-Commercial Procurement of R&D services concerning Preservation of fresh biological samples.

Opportunity Information

Get to know further details on the challenge by clicking HERE

Scope and main objectives

Through this OMC, the Public Buyers Group (PBG) of PROCURE4HEALTH, with Servicio Andaluz de Salud as lead procurer, aims to challenge the market to develop innovative solutions for advancing the preservation of biological samples for molecular biology studies. This initiative addresses the need for cost-efficient methods to preserve biological samples—ensuring the integrity and high yield of DNA, RNA, proteins, and metabolites—without requiring freezing and its associated infrastructure. These advancements are crucial for enhancing translational research, optimizing disease management, and improving patient outcomes in the context of precision medicine.

New molecular techniques in research (and increasingly in clinical practice) require the availability of biological material from patients preserved in a system that does not modify the nucleic acids, proteins or metabolites of the sample and that does not require freezing and the associated infrastructure. Frozen tissue is considered the best biological sample for current molecular biology techniques, but the costs of frozen storage are very high. The widespread method of storing patient samples is by fixation and embedding in paraffin, but this system does not allow to get the most out of patient samples. Therefore, there is a need to develop other techniques that would keep the sample as close as possible to the original state, at low costs.

In the end, patients are the ultimate to be affected, as their samples cannot be fully benefited from. Progress in translational research is also affected. It is important then to respond to this need so that the most modern and informative techniques can be applied to the diagnosis and treatment decision of patients in the context of precision medicine where multiple omics become predictors of response and prognosis. All of this results in an optimisation of disease management, savings in health system costs and improved patient survival and quality of life.

In this context, the purpose of the OMC is to inform technology providers and other relevant stakeholders about the needs of the PBG and to gather their input about the PROCURE4HEALTH challenge for developing innovative solutions tailored to facilitate the cost-efficient preservation of biological samples. Another objective of the OMC is to understand the technology providers’ capabilities to satisfy the public buyers’ needs and to obtain their input on the viability of the procurement plans and conditions. In sum, the objectives of this OMC are to:

Validate the findings of the State-Of-The-Art (SOTA) analysis and the viability of the set of technical and financial provisions.
Raise awareness of the industry and relevant stakeholders regarding the upcoming PCP.
Collect insights from the industry and relevant stakeholders (including users) to finetune the tender specifications

Who can participate?

The target groups of this OMC are technology providers, end users, research centres and universities. All interested parties are invited to take part in the OMC. However, please note that technology providers established in countries not eligible to participate in Horizon Europe Innovation Actions in any capacity cannot participate in the PCP procedure. Nevertheless, it is possible to form alliances of technology vendors (consortia).

Key Dates

5 January 2024: Publication of the general Prior Information Notice (PIN) on TED.

8 July 2024: Publication of the OMC documents on the project’s website, click HERE

11 September 2024: OMC Event in English (online) (10:00 – 11:30 CET), register HERE

25 September 2024: Deadline to fill in the OMC questionnaire (17:00 CET).

10 October 2024: Publication of the OMC findings, including all questions and answers to the OMC questionnaire.

11 October 2024: Closure of the OMC

Further Information

Get to know further details on the challenge by clicking HERE

**Please submit questionnaires and any questions regarding the OMC as directed via the link above. **

Please note: This is an Open Market Consultation (OMC) for pre-tender supplier engagement only.