IMI News
- Join IMI in Cyprus for a special event on open innovation
- Save the date! IMI to hold event at the European Parliament
- IMI and EFPIA to hold workshop at European Health Forum
- 7th Call for proposals – deadline approaching
- New Call topic on antimicrobial resistance announced
- European Commission launches consultation on life sciences PPP in Horizon 2020 - reminder
- Calling IMI project participants: sign up to this year’s CDISC workshop
- IMI presentations at forthcoming conferences
News from our projects
Join IMI in Cyprus for a special event on open innovation
IMI will hold a special event on open innovation entitled IMI – putting policy into practice on the afternoon of Thursday 11 October in Larnaca, Cyprus. Using examples from IMI projects, the event will demonstrate how open innovation can work in practice to speed up the delivery of results that will make a real difference to the lives of patients, especially those with diseases and conditions that are hard to treat. The IMI event will therefore set the stage for the Open Innovation For Health: A Strategy for 2020 conference, which begins on the evening of 11 October and is organised by the Cyprus Council Presidency.
- Registration to attend the IMI event will open shortly here
Save the date! IMI to hold event at the European Parliament
On Tuesday 13 November (from 17:00 to 20:00), IMI will hold an event in the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium to showcase IMI’s work and contribute to discussions on a future life sciences public private partnership (PPP) under Horizon 2020. The event, hosted by Italian MEP Amalia Sartori, will feature presentations highlighting IMI’s achievements so far as well as a debate on how IMI has benefited different stakeholders and what a future life sciences PPP should look like.
Registration information will be published on the IMI website shortly.
IMI and EFPIA to hold workshop at European Health Forum
IMI and EFPIA will hold a workshop at the European Health Forum in Gastein, Austria entitled Connecting new science, research and healthcare needs: is the contract between society and pharmaceutical industry up for renewal? The workshop, held on the evening of 4 October, aims to discuss issues such as how to translate research and science into concrete benefits to patients; how industry and society can develop common agendas towards a new model that links knowledge to adequate patient access; and how pressured healthcare systems can respond to new evidence and treatments. All European Health Forum participants are welcome to attend the workshop.
7th Call for proposals – deadline approaching
The deadline for submitting Expressions of Interest (EoIs) in response to IMI’s 7th Call for proposals is 9 October 2012. The 7th Call for proposals has two topics:
- Developing a framework for rapid assessment of vaccination benefit/risk in Europe
- Incorporating real-life clinical data into drug development
The 7th Call – Stage 1 web page includes all the information needed to put together an Applicant Consortium and submit an Expression of Interest; applicants are strongly advised to read this material thoroughly. If you have any questions about the Call text or IMI’s Call procedures in general, do not hesitate to contact the IMI office.
New Call topic on antimicrobial resistance announced
A new topic entitled Discovery and development of new drugs combating Gram–negative infections is under consideration for inclusion in IMI’s 9th call for proposals. A short summary of the topic, which is part of IMI’s combating antimicrobial resistance programme NewDrugs4BadBugs, should be available soon. Other topics planned for the 9th Call are on drug-drug combinations; the taxonomy of disease; pharmacovigilance; and a European induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell bank. Summaries of these topics are already available on the Future Topics page of the IMI website. The 9th Call for proposals is currently scheduled for launch in November.
All information regarding future IMI Call topics is indicative and subject to change. Final information about the IMI’s future Calls will be communicated after approval by the IMI Governing Board.
European Commission launches consultation on life sciences PPP in Horizon 2020 - reminder
The European Commission has launched a consultation on plans for a public-private partnership (PPP) in life sciences research and innovation under Horizon 2020. In its proposal for Horizon 2020, the Commission sees a role for PPPs in addressing priority ‘societal challenges’. PPPs will be selected on the basis of clearly-defined criteria, such as the added value of action at EU level; the scale of impact on industrial competitiveness, sustainable growth and socio-economic issues; and the long-term commitment from all partners. Through the consultation, the Commission hopes to gather views on the launch of a PPP in the life sciences area under Horizon 2020 as part of efforts to tackle the ‘health, demographic change and wellbeing’. Contributions from citizens, organisations and public authorities are all welcome.
- The deadline for submitting contributions is 4 October 2012.
Calling IMI project participants: sign up to this year’s CDISC workshop
On 2 October, IMI will host a CDISC workshop for IMI project participants at the IMI office in Brussels, Belgium. CDISC (the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium) is a standard development organisation focusing on data standards for medical research. The training programme is a benefit of IMI’s membership of CDISC which is extended to partners in IMI projects who are financed by IMI. (EFPIA participants in IMI are already members of CDISC and enjoy the same benefits.) The workshop will provide an introduction to the ready-made standards for data collection which facilitate collaborative research and demonstrate how projects can benefit from the work already done by CDISC.
- To sign up, send an e-mail with your contact details and the name of the IMI project you are involved in to: IMI-CDISC-TRAINING@imi.europa.eu
- Deadline for registration: 7 September 2012
- IMI will cover the travel expenses of two participants per project. This is only valid for participants from organisations that receive IMI funding. For more information on this, contact the IMI office or your project coordinator.
IMI presentations at forthcoming conferences
Below is an overview of some forthcoming events where staff from the IMI Executive Office and other IMI stakeholders will present IMI’s work and achievements.
- Workshop for Health & IMI Applicants
Bern, Switzerland, 6 September 2012
IMI is on the agenda at this info session for applicants interested in applying for IMI and FP7 Health funding.
Event website
- World Drug Repositioning Congress
London, UK, 11 September 2012
During the opening session, IMI Senior Scientific Project Manager Hugh Laverty will deliver a presentation on ‘seeking to foster industry innovation through pre-competitive drug repositioning initiatives’.
Event website
- Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) Info Day
Vilnius, Lithuania, 14 September 2012
IMI Executive Director Michel Goldman will give presentations on IMI’s objectives, its future Calls for proposals, and how to submit a successful proposal.
Event website
- JTI Innovative Medicines – 7th, 8th and 9th Calls
Madrid, Spain, 14 September 2012
IMI Senior Scientific Project Manager Nathalie Seigneuret will present IMI's forthcoming Calls for proposals, while Legal Manager Magali Poinot will give a presentation on IMI's rules and procedures.
Event website
- Future pharmaceutical industry in 2012
Helsinki, Finland, 20 September 2012
Michel Goldman, IMI’s Executive Director, will give a keynote speech entitled ‘Reinvigorating the pharmaceutical industry through public-private partnerships’.
Event website
- Innovative Medicines Initiative – Info Day in Poland
Gdansk, Poland, 25 September 2012
IMI Legal Manager Magali Poinot and Executive Director Michel Goldman will be among the speakers at this info day.
Event website
- Fifth Foresight Training Course
Warsaw, Poland, 30 September 2012
Nathalie Seigneuret, Senior Scientific Project Manager at IMI, will deliver a presentation entitled ‘Using public-private partnership to facilitate paediatric research: the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) example’.
Event website
- Innovation Days
Paris, France, 1 October 2012
IMI Executive Director Michel Goldman will deliver a talk on ‘fostering early-stage partnership among pharma and academia’ during the plenary session of the event.
Event website
- European Health Forum
Gastein, Austria, 4 October 2012
IMI and EFPIA will hold a joint workshop entitled ‘Connecting new science, research and healthcare needs: is the contract between society and pharmaceutical industry up for renewal?’
Event website
- BioPartnering Future Europe
Brussels, Belgium, 8 October 2012
Senior Scientific Project Manager Hugh Laverty will speak during a session entitled ‘Funding Hub: R&D Funding to Move Your Product Through the Pipeline’.
Event website
- IMI – putting policy into practice
Larnaca, Cyprus, 11 October 2012
Using examples from IMI projects, this event will demonstrate how open innovation can work in practice to speed up the delivery of results that will make a real difference to the lives of patients.
Event webpage
- Open Innovation for Health: A strategy for 2020
Larnaca, Cyprus, 11-13 October 2012
IMI Executive Director Michel Goldman and Principal Scientific Manager Fatiha Sadallah are among the speakers and moderators at this event, which aims to contribute to the development of an open innovation strategy for health in the EU.
Event website
- Summit on the future of CNS drug research in Europe
Vienna, Austria, 14 October
Michel Goldman, Executive Director of IMI, will take part in this event on the future of central nervous system (CNS) drug research in Europe, which is organised by the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP)
Event organiser’s website
- Evolution Summit 2012
Munich, Germany, 16 October 2012
IMI Executive Director Michel Goldman will deliver the closing keynote presentation entitled ‘Joining private and public forces to boost innovation in healthcare’.
Event website
- Regulatory aspects in Innovative Medicines Initiative Projects
London, UK, 7 November 2012
IMI Executive Director Michel Goldman will chair a session at this meeting organised by the European Medicines Agency
Event organiser’s website
- Early Clinical Drug Development towards 2020
Antwerp, Belgium, 9 November 2012
IMI Executive Director Michel Goldman will give a presentation on new horizons in early drug development.
Event website
- IMI at the European Parliament
Brussels, Belgium, 13 November 2012
This event will showcase IMI’s work and contribute to discussions on a future life sciences public private partnership (PPP) under Horizon 2020.
Event webpage: coming soon
IMI autism project EU-AIMS on the cover of Nature
IMI autism project EU-AIMS starred as Nature’s cover story with its research revealing that the father’s age when a child is conceived is the biggest single contributor to the number of new mutations passed on to a child. The findings suggest that the increase in the number of autism cases may be due in part to the fact that the average age of fathers at the time of conception is on the rise. The researchers arrived at their results after studying the genomes of around 2 000 Icelanders, including some with a diagnosis of autism or schizophrenia. On average, for every one-year increase in the father’s age, an additional two mutations were passed on to the offspring. ‘Our results all point to the possibility that as a man ages, the number of hereditary mutations in his sperm increases, and the chance that a child would carry a deleterious mutation that could lead to diseases such as autism and schizophrenia increases proportionally,’ said lead author Kari Stefansson of Iceland’s deCODE Genetics. ‘It is of interest here that conventional wisdom has been to blame developmental disorders of children on the age of mothers, whereas the only problems that come with advancing age of mothers is a risk of Down syndrome and other rare chromosomal abnormalities. It is the age of fathers that appears to be the real culprit.’
EU-AIMS adds to understanding of underlying causes of heritable autism
Elsewhere in the EU-AIMS project, researchers have shed new light on the workings of proteins called neuroligins that are involved in the transmission of nerve signals and have been linked to a heritable form of autism. Nerve signals are transmitted from one nerve cell to another at junctions called synapses. Neuroligins are found on the receiving side of synapses; if they malfunction or are absent, nerve signals are not transmitted correctly. The research, published in the Biochemical Journal, focuses on the functioning of neuroligins in mice. Mice have four kinds of neuroligin (dubbed neuroligins 1-4), and this study reveals that these neuroligins form pairs (‘dimers’) featuring either the same kind of neuroligin or different kinds of neuroligin. This is important because if neuroligin 3 pairs up with neuroligin 1, a mutation affecting neuroligin 3 will also indirectly impact neuroligin 1’s functioning. As neuroligin 3 is linked with heritable autism, many scientists use mice with mutated neuroligin genes as a mouse ‘model’ of autism in their work. These new findings will help to determine how well these mouse models work. Looking to the future, the team now plans to study the physiological and functional consequences of the loss of neuroligin 3.
Elsewhere, the EU-AIMS team has had a paper published in Molecular Psychiatry setting out some of the latest findings in autism research and highlighting their potential importance.
Coming soon – the Eu2P PhD programme
Applications open on 3 September for the Eu2P PhD programme in pharmacovigilance and pharmacoepidemiology. Applicants are expected to have a postgraduate diploma and a solid background in public health, especially in pharmacovigilance and pharmacoepidemiology. Candidates will initially be selected on the basis of their academic profile and grades; their professional profile and experience; their English proficiency; their scientific activities; and their letters of reference. Those who pass this first round will be invited to an interview during which they will be judged on their research project synopsis and their oral performance. The deadline for applications is 10 December 2012.