Roadmap to bolster vaccine innovation launched in European Parliament

The “Innovation Partnership for a Roadmap on Vaccines in Europe” (IPROVE) – financed under the EU 7th Framework Programme (FP7) – today launched a strategy setting out a vision for vaccine research and innovation in Europe over the next 20 years.

The roadmap, which is the first of its kind, was launched during a special European Parliament event that took place on the 16th of March and was hosted by MEPs Francoise Grossetête, Cristian-Silviu Busoi and Markus Ferber. Key opinion leaders in the field of vaccine research and development attended the event including representatives from the European Commission, the European Parliament, European Union Member States and a broad representation of the vaccines community including academia, industry, civil society and regulatory bodies. 

The IPROVE roadmap will inform strategic decisions on the priorities for future vaccine investment in innovation and technological development at European Union and individual Member State level. Through a bottom-up approach involving all key stakeholders in the European vaccine field, the strategy aims to overcome fragmentation and remove bottlenecks to translation of breakthrough research into innovative vaccines.

Following a two year consultation period, the plan covers the critical areas of intervention relevant to the entire innovation value chain, defines priorities and makes recommendations to support and accelerate research in vaccines, to help steer European competitiveness in this field for the delivery and benefit of innovative prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines.

The IPROVE roadmap focuses on seven main thematic topics of consultation;

i)               Vaccine R&D

ii)              Therapeutic Vaccines

iii)             Production and Manufacturing

iv)            Infrastructures

v)             Vaccine SME needs

vi)            Training

vii)           Communications and Acceptance of Vaccination

 

Ruxandra Draghia-Akli, Director of the Health Directorate DG Research & Innovation at the European Commission comments; “The FP7-funded IPROVE project is an important contributor to build a strategic vision for future European activities in the entire innovation chain for vaccines, and to maintain Europe’s leading position in this important area of research, which is close to the hearts of European citizens.”

Speaking on the launch of the first vaccine R&D roadmap for Europe, Michael Watson, IPROVE Chair and former Head Global Policy at SANOFI adds; “We urge all of the key vaccination stakeholders to embrace IPROVE as a shared starting point that will drive and pull Europe and the world to new heights in vaccination development”.

The IPROVE consortium comprises four renowned organisations in the vaccine field in Europe: Vaccines Europe (VE), a specialised group within the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) representing all major research-based vaccine global companies as well SMEs operating in Europe; the European Vaccine Initiative (EVI), a leading European Product Development Partnership supporting the development of effective, accessible, and affordable vaccines against diseases of poverty; the Sclavo Vaccines Association (SVA), a non-profit association whose main objective is to promote vaccine research targeted towards the discovery and study of advanced immunisation technologies; and EATRIS, a European consortium of academic institutions of excellence in translational research, working together to advance candidates into clinical development.

You can read or download the roadmap document at www.iprove-roadmap.eu

For more information about the IPROVE consortium, please visit http://www.iprove-eu.eu/, contact Magdalena de Azero (magdalena.deazero@vaccineseurope.eu) or Florence Bietrix (florencebietrix@eatris.eu).

Details of IPROVE project

Start date: 01/12/2013
End date: 31/03/2016
Project cost: 623,419.40 euro
EU contribution: 496,367.00 euro
Coordinator: Vaccines Europe/EFPIA

Participants

  1. VE/EFPIA  (www.vaccineseurope.eu)
  2. EVI  (www.euvaccine.eu)
  3. SVA  (www.sclavo.org)
  4. EATRIS  (www.eatris.eu)