Europe moves forward with its € 2 billion Innovative Medicines Initiative
Press conference: Announcement of achievements and major advances of the European public-private partnership on innovative medicines, including the introduction of the topics under the 2nd call for proposals.
This conference will provide the press with an in-depth look into major upcoming developments for IMI as well as an overview of what has been achieved so far under the ground-breaking public-private partnership between the European Commission and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).
During the press conference you will receive insight into the scientific priorities that will be covered in the forthcoming 2nd call for proposals. These will address disease areas affecting millions of Europeans, namely: cancer, inflammation and infectious diseases.
In order to demonstrate how IMI will make a difference for patients, the press conference will feature Mr. Rocmans, Honorary Professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, providing a real life story on how IMI's research in the area of Alzheimer could help patients with this disease.
In addition, IMI will also have the pleasure to introduce its newly-appointed Executive Director, Professor Michel Goldman, who will lead the autonomous Joint Undertaking.
Journalists will be able to meet the speakers during lunch.
IMI - an innovative Joint Technology Initiative
IMI is one of the Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs) launched by the European Commission as part of its 7th Framework Programme covering health and medical innovation. As a new form of partnership between publicly and privately-funded organisations, the JTIs promote industry-driven research and European leadership in strategic scientific and technological fields. Through these JTIs Europe has become a frontrunner in channelling public and private capacities into common research projects.
IMI's objective is to identify new tools to make research and development processes more efficient. This will allow removing major bottlenecks in the drug development process and will therefore accelerate the discovery and development of innovative medicines. To achieve this, research is undertaken by the pharmaceutical industry and public organisations, such as academia, patient organisations and regulatory authorities as well as SMEs in joint project teams.
To this end, each founding member (European Commission and EFPIA) committed to contribute €1 billion for the period 2007-2013, resulting in a total funding of €2 billion. The European Community contribution is dedicated exclusively to public sector participants and SMEs, whereas the pharmaceutical industry fully funds its own participation with a contribution of €1 billion in R&D resources.
To register, please complete and return the attached registration form to:
For further information on IMI please contact:
Stavros Papagianneas
Communication Officer
European Commission
DG Research
IMI Joint Undertaking
E-mail: stavros.papagianneas@ec.europa.eu
Colin MacKay
Director
Communication and Partnerships
EFPIA
Email: colinmackay@efpia.org
To register please contact:
Alenka Zibetto
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
EU Contractor for Press
Tel: +32 2 545 65 64
E-mail: alenka.zibetto@ogilvy.com