What is IMI?

The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) is Europe's largest initiative to boost pharmaceutical innovation in Europe and to speed up the development of better and safer medicines for patients. 

IMI aims to create a more favourable environment for pharmaceutical R&D in Europe by building networks of innovation with partners from industry, universities, hospitals, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), patient organisations and public authorities (including regulators).  

Through its innovative funding scheme, IMI supports research projects in the areas of drug safety and efficacy, knowledge management and education and training. By bringing together public and private partners in dedicated research consortia, IMI aims to make the drug discovery and development process in Europe more efficient and to enhance Europe’s competitiveness in the pharmaceutical sector. 

IMI is a public-private partnership between the European Union and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), and runs a €2 billion research programme.
More information about IMI

Why is IMI needed?

The discovery and development process of medicines needs to be made more effective. On average, only one or two in 10 000 tested substances makes it through development and is approved by regulatory authorities. The most common causes of failure are a lack of efficiency and potential adverse effects in lab tests or in patients.

Therefore, IMI projects aim to find better methods for predicting the safety and efficacy of new medicines at the earliest possible stage of the drug development process.

Moreover, in the past decade, an increased number of pharmaceutical companies have closed research facilities in Europe, and new medicines are increasingly developed outside Europe. By supporting a more favourable and collaborative research environment in Europe, IMI aims to attract new investments and talented researchers, in order to reinvigorate pharmaceutical innovation in Europe and to reverse the brain drain to the US and Asia.

What are the expected results?

IMI addresses the challenges in the development process of drugs, rather than aiming to directly deliver new medicines. Specifically, IMI’s objectives are:

• To drive the development of innovative medicines with a high level of safety and efficacy, for millions of patients;
• To modernise the development process of medicines;
• To generate more and better quality jobs for scientists, reversing the European brain drain;
• To enhance European expertise and know-how in new technologies in order to attract pharmaceutical R&D investment to Europe;
• To create a stronger competitive advantage for smaller companies (SMEs, spin-offs and start-ups), universities and other research organisations by collaborating with large companies and public authorities, enhancing Europe’s competitiveness.

The ultimate goal is to create benefits for patients and society, by generating faster access to safer and more effective medicines in disease areas that affect millions of Europeans, such as brain disorders, inflammatory, metabolic and infectious diseases, and cancer. Some projects aim specifically to improve knowledge management or education and training in pharmaceutical research.

What has IMI achieved so far?

IMI has launched a number of research projects for which it provides support, and has a series of new project calls scheduled.

Each research projects brings together on average ten to forty partners from industry and public organisations, and enables the exchange of knowledge and expertise between them.
By building these collaborative networks of experts, IMI improves the environment for pharmaceutical R&D in Europe. The longest running IMI projects are already producing tangible results.
More information on IMI research projects

What benefits will IMI bring to me?

IMI will drive the creation of a vibrant and dynamic scientific environment and ensure a strong European biomedical science base. IMI matters specifically to you:

If you are a patient

• You may be directly involved through IMI projects that rely on patients reporting about their conditions, such as the PROTECT (Pharmacoepidemiology), PROactive (COPD) and Pharma-Cog (Alzheimer's Disease),
• IMI Education & Training projects may provide patients with more information on their diseases as well as inform them about the R&D process,
• The interests of patients are directly represented through the participation of patients' organisations in IMI projects,
• IMI will improve access to innovative therapeutic approaches such as personalised medicine,
• IMI supports research that will increase the risk assessment of new and existing therapies, aiming to increase the safety of medicines for patients,
• IMI will optimize clinical trail designs helping to accelerate patients' access to new medicines, and
• IMI will increase collaboration with all stakeholders in pharmaceutical research, including patients.

If you work for a Small or Medium-sized Enterprise (SME)

• IMI will create a more favourable environment in Europe for discovering and developing new medicines using enabling technologies, diagnostics and potential therapies,
• IMI may reduce the risk of entering into clinical trials, trough development of new and better drug safety and efficacy biomarkers. This improved predictivity may also help attract venture capital companies and other investors who want to invest in early-stage innovation-based companies,
• IMI will provide a new source of R&D funding for financing technology development,
• IMI projects increase the international visibility of the participating small- and medium sized enterprises,
• IMI will facilitate access to databases and know-how normally unavailable to or prohibitively expensive for small and medium sized companies, increasing their chances of success, and
• IMI will increase collaboration with all relevant stakeholders.

If you are an academic

• By participating in IMI projects, academics can establish fruitful collaborations with partners in industry, regulatory agencies, patient organisations and other research organisations,
• IMI projects increase the international visibility of the participating scientists and research organisations,
• Participants in IMI projects get early access to pre-competitive knowledge,
• Research organisation in Europe will benefit from the improved environment for pharmaceutical research, which IMI is building through targeted investment and collaboration,
• IMI offers a framework of competition for research projects in important medical areas of research and education,
• IMI increases mobility and knowledge sharing between the public and private sectors,
• IMI increases international cooperation in medical research, and
• IMI will accelerate the translation of research results into useful therapies.

If you are a regulator

• IMI will provide a discussion forum on risk assessment of different therapeutic classes with all stakeholders,
• IMI will deliver improved scientific information to support faster decision making in regulatory approvals,
• IMI will provide for earlier involvement of regulators in the R&D process,
• IMI will provide earlier access to pre-competitive knowledge,
• IMI will accelerate the application of new technologies to regulatory practices,
• IMI may reduce the risk of encountering post-marketing withdrawals while speeding up access to new therapies, and
• IMI will increase collaboration with all relevant stakeholders.

If you work for a pharmaceutical company

• IMI will enable faster drug discovery and development and help lower attrition rates,
• IMI will share the risk of implementing new technologies,
• IMI will provide greater access to pre-competitive knowledge,
• IMI may accelerate approvals through better collaboration with regulatory agencies like the European Medicines Agency (EMA),
• IMI may reduce post-marketing withdrawals,
• IMI will optimize clinical trail designs,
• IMI will validate new assessment methods such as biomarkers,
• IMI will accelerate interpretation of safety findings through sharing pre-competitive toxicology data,
• IMI will support the training of more skilled professionals, and
• IMI will increase collaboration with all relevant stakeholders.

If you are in Member States, Associated States and Candidate Countries of the European Union

• IMI will support the creation of more R&D jobs in the EU,
• IMI will contribute to achieving the Lisbon objective for Europe to become the world’s strongest knowledge based economy and is a means of gaining global competitive advantage,
• IMI will contribute to the availability of more education and training in the biomedical arena,
• IMI will drive the creation of significant economic value through fostering small and large enterprises in Europe,
• IMI will enable more effective healthcare with its focus on translational science, and
• IMI will address the brain drain by strengthening the European science base helping countries retain and attract scientific talent.

How is IMI funded?

The European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme contributes €1 billion to the IMI research programme. That amount will be matched by mainly in kind contributions worth at least another €1 billion euro from the pharmaceutical companies that are member of EFPIA, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations.

The European Union's contribution (public money) funds exclusively public organisations or non-profit organisations and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).  Pharmaceutical companies fully fund their own participation and provide R&D resources such as staff, laboratories, materials and clinical research. 

Funding is distributed through open Calls for proposals following an independent peer reviewed two-stage process.

How are the European Commission and the pharmaceutical industry represented in IMI governance?

The IMI Governing Board is composed of ten board members representing equally the two Founding Members of IMI: five from the European Commission, representing the European Union, and five from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), representing the research-based pharmaceutical industry in Europe.

The Governing Board is the main decision-making body of th IMI. It carries the overall responsibility for the operations of the undertaking and oversees the implementation of its activities. It therefore guarantees the fulfilment of the objectives set by the IMI, namely to support more efficient drug discovery and the development of safer and better medicines for patients.
More information on IMI governance

Participating in an IMI project: Calls for proposals

More information will be provided soon.

Further information

How to stay informed about IMI activities?

The prime source of information for IMI activities is the IMI website.

In addition, in order to receive alerts of news from IMI, you can subscribe to the IMI newsletter (for announcements on major IMI activities) and to the IMI Twitter feed (also for smaller items of interest).

To whom can I address further questions?
If your question is not answered in this FAQ, you can send an email to IMI.