The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) has successfully launched its
third wave of projects. The 7 new projects, which have a combined total cost of
€215 million and will run for 5 years, are taking on some of the biggest
challenges in healthcare research. Some of the new projects aim to speed up the
search for more effective treatments for certain diseases and conditions that
are currently difficult to manage.
For example, PreDiCT-TB is investigating
ways of designing new combinations of drugs to make tuberculosis treatments
more patient-friendly, while DIRECT aims to pave the way for type 2 diabetes
patients to benefit from personalised medicines. Meanwhile EU-AIMS is working towards the development of new treatments
designed specifically to treat autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
Other projects are focused more on safety issues. MIP-DILI aims to make it
easier for researchers to identify potential drugs that are likely to cause liver
damage - an important issue when one considers that drug-induced liver injury
is a leading cause of liver failure.
ABIRISK is working in the emerging area of biopharmaceuticals - novel drugs
which are based on biological molecules such as proteins and can occasionally
trigger an immune response. ABIRISK's goal is to study the underlying causes of
the immune response with a view to improving the safety of biopharmaceuticals.
Elsewhere, BIOVACSAFE is working to develop tools to accelerate procedures
to test and monitor vaccine safety.
Finally, IMI is pleased to announce the launch of another Education &
Training project; EUPATI will create a European Patients' Academy on
Therapeutic Innovation, which will educate patients and the public about
medicines development and empower patients to engage more effectively in the
drug development process.
IMI Executive Director Michel Goldman said: "These projects are all
taking on research challenges that would be too big for one company or academic
team to tackle on its own. They therefore demonstrate IMI's value in creating
pan-European teams of experts that are in a position to make major advances in
these critical areas."
The new projects mean that IMI is now supporting a total of 30 projects
with a combined total cost of over €650 million. All IMI projects are jointly
supported by the EU (in cash) and the member companies of the European
Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) (in-kind
contributions).
Looking to the future, IMI expects to kick-off a fourth round of projects
by the end of the year in areas related to obesity, Alzheimer's Disease, drug
delivery by nano-carriers, sustainable chemical drug production, the behavior
of drugs in the human body, knowledge management and stem cells for drug
discovery, as well as a fifth wave of projects building a Joint European
Compound Collection and a European Screening Centre.
In addition, IMI has recently launched a major programme for combatting
antibiotic resistance. More Calls for proposals are in the pipeline, including
a Call on the assessment of vaccination impact and on effectiveness research.
About the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI)
IMI is the world's largest public-private partnership in health research and development. Through the 7th Framework Programme for Research, the European Union contributes €1 billion to the IMI research programme, which is matched by in kind contributions worth at least another €1 billion from the member companies of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA). IMI is improving the environment for pharmaceutical innovation in Europe, by engaging and supporting networks of industrial and academic experts in collaborative research projects. The Innovative Medicines Initiative currently funds 30 projects, many of which are already producing impressive results.