Research Projects

SafeSciMET (European Modular Education and Training Programme in Safety Sciences for Medicines) develops and delivers a pan-European education and training programme on drug safety emphasizing integrative and translational aspects lacking largely in today's educational programmes.

A new publication about IMI Education & Training activities is available here [5]

The European Medicines Research Training Network (EMTRAIN) will establish a sustainable, pan-European platform for education and training (E&T) covering the whole life-cycle of medicines research, from basic science through clinical development to pharmacovigilance

A new publication about IMI Education & Training activities is available here  [5]

Eu2P (European Programme in Pharmacovigilance and Pharmacoepidemiology) will establish a European private and academic partnership to fill in training needs in pharmacovigilance and pharmacoepidemiology for specialists and non-specialists. Eu2P will develop an educational curriculum ranging from PhD and Master degrees to Certificates with a high level of excellence including innovative and interactive e-learning tools. First courses start in autumn 2011.

A new publication about IMI Education & Training activities is available here [5]

PharmaTrain (Pharmaceutical Medicines Training Programme) aims at fostering the overall understanding and competence for successful execution of integrated drug development and life-cycle managements of medicines through frontier training methods and programme content

A new publication about IMI Education & Training activities is available here [5]

The EUROPAIN project aims to improve the treatment of patients with chronic pain. The scientists will search for changes in the nervous system and the mechanisms that contribute to pain, using novel experimental models, human volunteers and clinical data of pain patients. They will search objective methods to measure pain in patients and they will examine the mechanisms that are activated by placebo (‘fake’) pain medication.

The project aims to find new methods for the development of drugs for schizophrenia and depression. The researchers will focus on developing new experimental models which use brain recording and behavioural tests to identify innovative and effective drugs for schizophrenia. They will develop standardised paradigms, acquisition and analysis techniques to apply brain imaging, especially fMRI and PET imaging to drug development.

The lMIDIA project aims to develop novel approaches to assess, predict and prevent pancreatic beta-cell demise in diabetes patients, as well as to restore normal beta-cell mass and function for the treatment of diabetes patients. IMIDIA aims at delivering novel tools for the study of human pancreatic beta-cell development, function and survival, their modulation by potential therapeutic compounds and for in vivo beta-cell imaging.

In order to better predict, monitor and treat diabetic patients that are at risk of vascular complications, the scientists of the SUMMIT project will identify biological clues (biomarkers) that indicate in advance if a patient is likely to develop such complications. The consortium will demonstrate the usefulness of the biomarkers in patient groups, and will do the necessary tests to make the markers acceptable by regulatory authorities.

The Pharma-Cog project aims to develop and validate new tools to test candidate drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and its symptoms in a faster and more sensitive way than is currently possible. By bringing together databases of previously conducted clinical trials and combining the results from blood tests, brain scans and behavioural tests, the PharmaCog consortium will develop a 'signature' that gives more accurate information on the progression of the disease and the effect of candidate drugs than current methods do.

The U-BIOPRED consortium will create and validate innovative testing methods to classify patients into distinct severe asthma types. They will bring together genetic data from patients, results from tissue samples, blood tests and breathing tests, as well as clinical findings and patient reported symptoms. This will be linked to results of preclinical models, in order to facilitate future drug development.

The aim of PROactive is to develop new tools that will enable patients, their doctors and clinical researchers to accurately assess the improvement or deterioration of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

The aim of the MARCAR project is to identify early biological indicators (biomarkers) that can be used to predict the effects of non-genotoxic carcinogens (NGC). MARCAR will establish, for the first time, proof of concept that early biomarkers can reliably and robustly predict later cancer development. Validation of the biomarkers identified in the initial experiments will be a key stage in the project as early biomarkers of carcinogenicity would be immensely valuable in preclinical development of new drug compounds.

The eTOX project aims to develop a drug safety database from the pharmaceutical industry legacy toxicology reports and public toxicology data, innovative methodological strategies and novel software tools to better predict the toxicological profiles of small molecules in early stages of the drug development pipeline.

SAFE-T is working to address the current lack of sensitive and specific clinical tests to diagnose and monitor drug-induced injury to the kidney, liver and vascular systems in man, which is a major hurdle in drug development.

The goal of PROTECT is to strengthen the monitoring of the benefit-risk of medicines in Europe. This will be achieved by developing a set of innovative tools and methods that will enhance the early detection and assessment of adverse drug reactions from different data sources, and enable the integration and presentation of data on benefits and risks.