15 new research projects have been selected to receive 246 million euros within the Innnovative Medicines Initiative, a public-private partnership, also known as the Joint Technology Initiative, between the European Commission and the pharmaceutical industry. The Commission contributed 110 million euros and 136 million euros is coming from the industry.
This is the first time that pharmaceutical competitors are pooling their resources with research organisations, patient groups and other stakeholders to develop generic, pre-competitive knowledge. The research projects will focus on diabetes, pain, severe asthma, psychiatric disorders and also increasing drug safety.
150 applications were received and the best consortia were chosen to form joint project teams. 15 projects from these teams have been selected. They will address the main causes of delay or “bottlenecks” in pharmaceutical research and development processes. The overall objectives are to encourage the rapid discovery and development of better medicines, improving competitiveness within the industry, increasing the safety and efficacy of medicines and improving education and training.
The contract for the 15 projects should be finished by November 2009 and a second call for proposals is to be launched in Autumn 2009 for projects dealing with oncology, diagnosis of infectious diseases, chronic inflammatory diseases and knowledge management.
Janez Potocnik, the EU Commissioner for Science and Research has said that, “In times of crisis, such a model of cooperation is proving well suited to answering both EU competitiveness objectives and public health needs."
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