The opioid crisis has highlighted a longstanding challenge: the development of innovative and potent painkillers without adverse side effects. One major hurdle is that the analgesic efficacy of drug candidates is traditionally assessed using behavioral tests, which are sensitive to anxiolytic and/or sedative effects. True analgesic potency can only be specifically evaluated by measuring drug effects on the activity of neurons at the origin of pain sensation in vivo. This is our approach.
E-Phys is an independent CRO specializing in electrophysiology in anesthetized rodents for the development of analgesic drug, founded in 2012 and initially based in Clermont-Ferrand, France. E-Phys can be considered a legacy of the in vivo electrophysiology group of the late (2011) Pfizer Global Research and Development based in Sandwich, UK.
The founder, Julien Allard, was initially graduated as a biochemist (1991, INSA, Lyon, France). This was followed by a Master and a PhD in Pharmacology and Neurosciences (1999, Université René Descartes, Paris, France). Julien Allard started his career in electrophysiology at Pfizer in 2008. He has largely passed the some-consider-it-to-be-a-landmark-for-expertise 10 000 h over the bench of single-unit recordings in anesthetized rodents since.