[Ip-health] Partnership plans €2bn boost for medical research- Innovative Medicines Initiative a partnership between EC & EFPIA

[Alexandra HEUMBER]

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Innovative Medicines Initiative :  a partnership between EC & EFPIA
For more information on IMI (fact sheets, Legal text etc)
http://imi.europa.eu/documents_en.html


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1a3fbdd2-164e-11dd-880a-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_=
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Partnership plans €2bn boost for medical research

By Andrew Jack

Published: April 30 2008 03:00 | Last updated: April 30 2008 03:00

The European Commission and the pharmaceutical industry will today unveil
a €2bn (£1.6bn) partnership to arrest the EU's declining international
role in medical research. The money will be offered to academic
researchers and small businesses, writes Andrew Jack in London .

Teams of commercial and not-for-profit researchers will be able to seek
support for work on a range of medical projects, on condition that their
findings are publicly shared in an effort to stimulate faster and safer
drug development.

The Innovative Medicines Initiative, jointly supported by the Commission
and members of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and
Associations (Efpia), will release details of its first 18 priorities,
which will be funded by €123m in awards to be given out by spring next
year.

The initiative is an attempt to re-establish Europe as a leading developer
of medicines."This is a chance for us to really get back on the right
foot," said Arthur Higgins, president of Efpia and head of Bayer
Healthcare of Germany. It was important for patients and the wealth and
prosperity of Europe. "We're sending a signal to the US, Japan, China and
India that Europe is taking its bioscience sector really seriously."

The first wave of projects includes the development of measurable
biomarkers in the body to gauge the side-effects of new medicines on the
kidneys and liver, as well as research into the basic mechanisms of pain,
severe asthma, psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.

The Commission has given €1bn in funding for the seven-year programme,
which will be matched by support from pharmaceutical companies through
loans of staff, laboratory equipment and libraries of compounds.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Alexandra Heumber
EU Advocacy Liaison Officer
Medecins Sans Frontieres
Access to Essential Medicines Campaign
Rue Dupre, 94. 1090 Brussels
++32 (0) 2 474 75 09 (Dir off)
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