The European Commission and the pharmaceutical industry are entering into a pan-European strategic alliance to fund research in the health sector and accelerate the discovery and development of innovative medicines. This collaboration will bring together stakeholders on all levels to share knowledge and results. The benefits for patients will be significant, as it will further contribute to removing bottlenecks in the drug development process, thus providing patients with better medicines, faster. The boost in competitiveness could also be significant as resources for biopharmaceutical R&D conducted in Europe will be maximised.
A new video report from the European Commission’s Directorate General for Research explains the aim and focus of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) through an animated explanation of the drug development process. This is supported by statements of the IMI Founding Members and stakeholders, such as representatives from academia, patient organisations and SMEs.
Global R&D expenditure in the biopharmaceutical sector has steadily increased over the past 10 years. However, this has not been accompanied by a corresponding rise in the output of new medicines. The high failing rate of medicine contributes significantly to this declining productivity. Moreover, such failures are costly and the price tag of developing new drugs can be as high as €700 million, including the cost of failures.
IMI is a public-private partnership between the European community, represented by the European Commission, and the pharmaceutical industry, represented by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).The European Commission and EFPIA will each contribute €1 billion, resulting in total funding of €2 billion, for this groundbreaking venture. Funding from the European Commission’s FP7 will be dedicated exclusively to public sector participants and SMEs, with the biopharmaceutical industry contributing €1 billion in R&D resources.On April 30th 2008the European Commission in Brussels will hold a technical briefing, where the scientific priorities of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) for 2008 will be presented for the first time. Interviews: Arthur Higgins,President EFPIA - European Pharmaceutical Industries Association CEO Bayer HealthCare
Pierre Rocmans,Kiki’s husband
(Kiki is suffering from Alzheimer's disease)
Sabine Henry, Vice-chairperson of Alzheimer Europe
Jonathan Knowles, Chairman of the IMI Governing Board; Head of Group Research, Roche
Carlo Incerti, Member of the IMI Governing Board; Head of R&D Europe, Genzyme
André Michel, President of Aureus Pharma
Simon Lovestone, Director NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health – King’s College London
Octavi Quintana Trias, Former Director Health, DG Research, European Commission
Irene Norstedt, Head of Sector, Implementation IMI, DG Research, European Commission Visit the site:
www.mostra.comDownload subtitles:
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