PROSION and the EIC Accelerator: Undruggable Targets, Insolvency

Many disease-causing proteins act by binding to other proteins, and many of those contacts have long been considered "undruggable". PROSION, a Cologne company registered in 2020, built a library of proline-derived chemical building blocks, called ProMs, designed to block one family of these contacts: domains that bind proline-rich motifs, which its EU project links to cancer, neurodegenerative, metabolic and immune diseases.

The European Innovation Council granted €2,461,375 towards a three-year, €3.52 million project, and the EIC Fund co-invested alongside the venture firm Freigeist. The project delivered a preclinically validated cancer candidate. In 2022 the company said it aimed to enter the clinic within 24 months. It never announced a clinical trial, and in January 2026 a Cologne court appointed a provisional insolvency administrator.

What Happened to PROSION

The German register on North Data records that the managing director position became vacant in October 2025, that the Cologne Local Court appointed a provisional insolvency administrator on 15 January 2026 under file 70j IN 279/25, and that the company was in liquidation from March 2026. The same file number appears in a list of insolvency filings published by Verbraucherschutzforum on 15 January 2026. We found no public statement from the company or its investors, and no information on whether the ProM platform or its candidates were sold.

The Technology: Building Blocks for Protein Contacts

PROSION's approach, set out in the CORDIS objective, combined advantages of small molecules and biologics: modular ProM building blocks assembled into inhibitors that fit proline-rich binding sites. The science is published. A PNAS paper in July 2025 by authors including Ronald Kühne and Hartmut Oschkinat reported that an Ena/VASP inhibitor built from ProMs blocked the interaction that drives breast cancer cell migration and reduced metastasis in vivo, building on a 2020 PNAS paper on nanomolar inhibitors of the same target.

What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows

The CORDIS report says PROSION developed and validated a first ProM-based candidate against a tumour progression driver, with "high affinity, specificity, and safety, with potent anti-cancer activity". Machine learning identified "over 600 targets amenable to the ProM technology", more than 300 inhibitors were synthesised, and manufacturing with contract manufacturers increased lead generation capacity more than tenfold. It also reports collaborations with major pharmaceutical companies, without naming them.

1. A preclinically validated candidateDeliveredPer CORDIS; supported by the 2025 PNAS paper.
2. Scalable platform and manufacturingDeliveredTenfold lead generation capacity; 300 inhibitors.
3. Pharma partnershipsUnnamedCollaborations reported, none disclosed.
4. Entry into the clinicNot achievedNo trial announced; insolvency in January 2026.

From the Award to Insolvency

The Money

Besides the EIC grant, PROSION won about €1.5 million from North Rhine-Westphalia's ZukunftBIO.NRW programme for 2024 and 2025, to optimise its candidate for highly metastatic cancers and build an AI-based "in silico engine". Its private backing came from Freigeist, with the EIC Fund co-investing, according to EIC Community and the company. The amounts were never disclosed.

Why Europe Should Care

PROSION got as far as a validated candidate with published animal data, the point where the expensive steps towards patients begin. The EU and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia paid for much of the journey up to that point. The public record does not show why the company could not raise the next round.

The Verdict

PROSION, now in insolvency, has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records, company statements, scientific publications and EU project data, linked throughout.