VALENCIA, Spain, March 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A call has been issued for research institutes and networks to join new efforts to increase the understanding of influenza vaccine effectiveness in Europe. The call is open to any European organisation and closes on April 15th 2019.

This is the second season when organisations interested in studying brand-specific influenza vaccine effectiveness have been invited to join the growing DRIVE (Development of Robust and Innovative Vaccine Effectiveness) consortium as Associate Partners through an annual call for tenders, this time commencing for the 2019/20 influenza season.

The DRIVE Associate Partners will be compensated for sharing data from existing studies as well as contributing to innovative approaches to developing estimates on brand-specific influenza vaccine effectiveness for all brands used in Europe each season.

Sites without established vaccine effectiveness studies are also eligible to apply for funds and technical assistance to develop new study capacity.

The DRIVE network consists of 12 research sites from seven European countries. Eight new sites joined the network last year as the result of the first call.

The DRIVE project is a pan-European consortium which involves both the public sector and vaccine manufacturers in brand-specific evaluation of influenza vaccine effectiveness – a new regulatory requirement from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

DRIVE has already delivered first pilot data estimating brand-specific influenza vaccine effectiveness in the 2017/2018 influenza season.

The research project is underpinned by a governance framework that allows transparent and efficient collaboration between public and private stakeholders and includes firewalling measures recommended by public stakeholders. This includes an independent scientific committee that has been established to ensure the integrity of DRIVE studies.

Influenza is a deadly disease that causes up to 50 million of cases of illness and up to 70,000 deaths in Europe every year, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control^[1]. DRIVE study outputs will help fill knowledge gaps, meet new regulatory requirements, and improve communication about influenza vaccination.

"We welcome DRIVE as a timely initiative bringing both public and private partners together to make the best use of influenza vaccine effectiveness data. Working together according to the highest scientific standards and in a transparent manner is in the interest of modern public health", says Dr. Hanna Nohynek, Chief physician and Deputy Head of Infectious Diseases Control and Vaccines, the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Finland.

"DRIVE has started work to deliver high-quality brand-specific information on influenza vaccines to regulators, policy-makers, clinicians and the public. We are now seeking more research partners to help us achieve the scale of data needed for robust studies and to develop new ways to assess influenza vaccine effectiveness", said Professor Javier Díez-Domingo, Director of the Vaccine Research Department, FISABIO- Public Health in Spain and DRIVE Coordinator.

DRIVE is a public-private partnership funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative. The members include public health institutes, universities, small and medium-sized enterprises, industry and a patient organisation. The role and contribution of each member, including the vaccine manufacturers, is clearly defined and traceable to ensure scientific independence.

Acknowledgement: This project has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 777363. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA.

Disclaimer: This press release reflects only the author's views and neither IMI nor the European Commission is liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

[1] ECDC: Factsheet about seasonal influenza. https://ecdc.europa.eu/en/seasonal‐ influenza/facts/factsheet

More information

Submit your application now at: https://www.drive-eu.org/index.php/2019/02/04/tenders-20192020/

Frequently asked questions: https://www.drive-eu.org/index.php/faq/

The pilot year's results, 2017/18 season: https://www.drive-eu.org/index.php/results/results-2017-18-season/

Interview requests for

Professor Javier Díez-Domingo, Director of the Vaccine Research Department, FISABIO- Public Health in Spain and DRIVE Coordinator and Dr. Hanna Nohynek, Chief physician and Deputy Head of Infectious Diseases Control and Vaccines, the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland.

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SOURCE DRIVE