- Calling IMI projects – contribute to our 10 years symposium
- Sign up for the IMI2 – Call 14 webinars
- Gunnar Sandberg becomes Chair of SRG
- SafeSciMET trains more than 800 experts, could help create safer drugs
- Contribute to ROADMAP’s survey on outcomes in dementia
- ‘It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make this happen’ – an interview with the PharmaTrain project coordinators
- Get educated in RWE with the GETREAL course
- Registration open for the European Lead Factory stakeholder event
- Sign up for the ADAPT SMART final conference
- 'All this wouldn’t have been possible without IMI' – an interview with Eu2P project coordinators
Calling IMI projects – contribute to our 10 years symposium
Since IMI was launched in 2008, we have launched almost 100 projects, all of which take a collaborative, open innovation approach to some of the biggest challenges in medical research and drug development today. As we approach our 10th anniversary, we have a chance to step back and reflect on 10 years of activity that have resulted in some amazing things happening thanks to the sterling work carried out in our projects. This is why we are calling on young scientists in our projects to submit abstracts for oral and poster presentations at IMI's first Scientific Symposium on 22 and 23 October 2018 in Brussels. The scientific programme will cover four areas in four half-day sessions, reflecting the particular advantages of conducting research in public-private consortia:
- New targets, tools and pathways
- From concept to trial
- New clinical and regulatory paradigms
- Patient engagement along the value chain
Details of how to submit an abstract can be found here. The submission deadline is 7 April 2018.
Registration for the event will open later this year.
Sign up for the IMI2 – Call 14 webinars
IMI is now scheduling webinars on IMI2 – Call 14, with the first webinar scheduled for Friday 16 March. All webinars on the Call topics will feature a presentation by the EFPIA topic coordinator and time for questions and answers. IMI will also hold dedicated webinars on IMI’s rules and procedures and opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Registration is free but obligatory. Slides and recordings of all webinars will be published on the IMI website. The following topics are under consideration for inclusion in the Call, and draft topic texts are available on the Future Topics page of the IMI website.
- Targeted immune intervention for treatment of non-response and remission
- Non-invasive clinical molecular imaging of immune cells
- Development of a platform for federated and privacy-preserving machine learning in support of drug discovery
- Centre of excellence – remote decentralised clinical trials
Gunnar Sandberg becomes Chair of SRG
Gunnar Sandberg of Sweden has been elected Chair of the IMI States Representatives Group (SRG). The Vice-Chair is Marta Gómez Quintanilla of Spain. Both Chair and the Vice-Chair are elected for a period of two years. Following his election, Sandberg commented: 'My motivation as Chair is to strengthen the involvement of the States Representatives Group building the new IMI.'
The SRG is an advisory group within IMI and consists of representatives from Member States and countries associated with the EU’s research framework programmes. SRG members represent their national governments. The SRG provides opinions on IMI’s scientific priorities, and is formally consulted on our Annual Work Plans and topic texts before Calls for proposals are launched. By interacting with national/regional stakeholders and authorities, SRG members aim to ensure that our scientific priorities are in line with research programmes on a regional, national and EU level in order to look for potential synergies and prevent overlaps. The group meets at least twice per year.
SafeSciMET trains more than 800 experts, could help create safer drugs
IMI’s SafeSciMET project established a much-needed education and training programme in drug safety sciences in Europe. In an interview with the IMI Programme Office, project coordinators Manfred Kansy of Roche and Nico Vermeulen of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam explain how this project will contribute to developing safer medicines in the future. ‘It is remarkable that we succeeded within the first year already to put together a curriculum for 20 courses which were harmonised with each other. In the second year we already started giving the courses,’ said Vermeulen. ‘It just amazes me that we managed to bring all these people together in one consortium, in one curriculum.’ Added Kansy: ‘What is amazing is that in the three course cycles which we had, more than 800 people have been trained. I think this is quite an achievement.’ Read the full interview
Contribute to ROADMAP’s survey on outcomes in dementia
The ROADMAP project has launched a survey with the goal of obtaining views on the importance of different aspects that relate to mild cognitive impairment and dementia to assess meaningful change in disease progression. The overall aim of ROADMAP is to effectively use Europe wide real world evidence (RWE) data to improve the lives of people with dementia, with a particular focus on Alzheimer’s disease, and to prevent individuals from developing the disease. The project team would like people with dementia, their carers, clinicians, scientists, payers, health economists, and others concerned with dementia in their professional capacity, to complete the surveys as they are interested in identifying important aspects of dementia from multiple perspectives. Aspects of having dementia that they are interested in include: cognition, independence in complex daily activities, the use of health and social services, quality of life, and the quality of carers’ and families’ lives. The deadline for completing the survey is 5 March.
‘It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make this happen’ – an interview with the PharmaTrain project coordinators
IMI’s PharmaTrain project provided much needed harmonisation and coordination among European universities offering medicines development education and training. In an interview with the IMI Programme Office, former project coordinator Ingrid Klingmann, now president of the successor organisation, PharmaTrain Federation asbl, and Matthias Gottwald of Bayer, explain why this was an important opportunity, and why universities around the world are envious that Europe could make such a project happen. ‘This was a unique opportunity for all these course providers to come out of their ivory towers, jointly analyse the deficiencies and figure out how to do it together in the best way,’ said Klingmann. ‘It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make this happen.’ Read the full interview
Get educated in RWE with the GETREAL course
Following the successful first edition of the interactive online course ‘Real-world evidence (RWE) in medicine development’, one of the deliverables of the GetReal project, a new edition of the course will start on 16 April. During the six-week course, students will learn about current techniques, opportunities and challenges for the use of real-world evidence (RWE) in medicine development. The course will be supervised by leading academics who were involved in the IMI GetReal project and is ideal for anyone who wishes to become familiar with the key issues in the areas of real-world data and to broaden their expertise. The course is particularly relevant for anyone working for pharmaceutical companies, regulatory authorities, HTA bodies, patients’ organisations, consultancy companies and academic institutions. As such, it will facilitate discussion, interaction and mutual learning across all professionals involved in medicine development. Participants who successfully complete the course assignments will receive a certificate at the end of the course. For more information and to enrol, visit the course page of the project website.
Registration open for the European Lead Factory stakeholder event
Registration is now open for the European Lead Factory’s stakeholder meeting, which will be held in Brussels, Belgium on 17 April 2018. The theme of the meeting is ‘Collaborative innovation - seeding tomorrow’s priority medicines’, and it will feature presentations and posters from both project partners and programme owners who have made use of the European Lead Factory during its five years of operation. One of the speakers is Margit Mahlapuu of the University of Gothenburg, whose experiences with ELF resulted in the creation of a successful spin-out. The event will also include a discussion on the future and how stakeholders can further grow this platform to serve drug discovery for priority medicines.
Sign up for the ADAPT SMART final conference
The IMI ADAPT SMART Closing Meeting ‘Medicines Development in the Adaptive Era’ will take place in Budapest, Hungary on 21-22 March. During the event, the final results of the project will be presented and placed into the context of public health and sustainable pharmaceutical innovation in Europe and beyond. As part of the programme, MIT’s NEWSDIGS (‘NEW Drug Development ParadIGmS’) programme will host an interactive session to apply the learnings from ADAPT SMART to a case study. All audience members will have the opportunity to contribute to the case study discussions. The meeting will close with a look into the future of adaptive pathways beyond ADAPT SMART. Registration is upon invitation only and seating is limited – to request an invitation, follow the link at the bottom of the event web page.
'All this wouldn’t have been possible without IMI' – an interview with Eu2P project coordinators
Eu2P developed the first internationally recognised European online education & training programmes in pharmacovigilance and pharmacoepidemiology. In an interview with the IMI Programme Office, academic project coordinator Annie Fourrier-Réglat and project manager Karine Palin, both of the University of Bordeaux, reveal the long-lasting benefits that this project will bring to academia and industry. ‘All this wouldn’t have been possible without the IMI funding and collaboration between the different partners in the public and private sectors,’ said Fourrier-Réglat. Read the full interview