European Clinical Research Alliance on Infectious Diseases Kicks Off

BRUSSELS, January 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

On January 17, global networks and key stakeholders will discuss ECRAID and its sustainable solutions to protect Europe from antimicrobial resistance and emerging threats 

Kicking off on January 17th 2019 with a high-level meeting in Brussels, PREPARE and COMBACTE will commence the development of the business plan for ECRAID, the European Clinical Research Alliance on Infectious Diseases. ECRAID envisages a European-wide sustainable clinical research organization for infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance that stems from both PREPARE and COMBACTE.

The Kick-off Meeting will be opened with prominent speakers such as Marc Bonten, Coordinator of COMBACTE; Herman Goossens, Coordinator of PREPARE; Carlos Moedas, the EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation; Jeremy Farrar, Director of Wellcome Trust; and Magda Chlebus, Executive Director, Science Policy & Regulatory Affairs, EFPIA. In addition, there will be panel discussions with the participation of clinical research networks, such as African EDCTP-funded and Latin-America EU-funded organizations, preclinical research networks, SMEs, and pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies.

ECRAID's vision is to establish a coordinated and permanent European clinical research infrastructure for clinical research on infectious diseases. Due to their network, which is built on the foundations laid by COMBACTE (>950 clinical care sites) and PREPARE (primary care sites), ECRAID will be able to conduct clinical research faster and easier. Moreover, ECRAID will have rapid access to and knowledge of well-developed clinical and laboratory sites. Trials will be conducted continuously, allowing them to expand their experience and knowledge.

ECRAID aims to protect public health by generating rigorous evidence to improve diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. The mission is to cultivate world-class research to protect citizens of Europe against antimicrobial resistance and infectious diseases over the long-term.

About PREPARE 

PREPARE, the Platform for European Preparedness Against (Re-)emerging Epidemics, is a EU funded network for harmonized large-scale clinical research studies on infectious diseases (IDs), prepared to rapidly respond to any severe ID outbreak, providing real-time evidence for clinical management of patients and for informing public health responses. 'Inter-epidemic' studies will train PREPARE in mounting a rapid, coordinated deployment of Europe's clinical investigators, within 48 hours of a severe outbreak. As such, PREPARE aims to be at the basis of establishing a paradigm shift in clinical research in response to severe ID outbreaks. PREPARE is funded by the European Commission's FP7 Programme under grant agreement No. 602525.

About COMBACTE 

COMBACTE - Combatting Bacterial Resistance in Europe - was created to meet the challenges of clinical development of antibacterials in response to the worldwide growing problem of antibiotic resistance. This Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) program represents an unprecedented partnership between industry, academia and biotech organizations to combat antibiotic resistance in Europe by tackling the scientific, regulatory, and business challenges that are hampering the development of new antibiotics. In collaboration with other consortia within IMI's New Drugs 4 Bad Bugs (ND4BB) program, the COMBACTE projects will enable more rapid and efficient development and commercialization of much-needed new antibacterial treatments and diagnostic tests.

This research project receives support from the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No. 115523 | 115620 | 115737 | 777362 resources of which are composed of financial contribution from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) and EFPIA companies in kind contribution.