The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), a unique partnership between the European Commission and the European pharmaceutical industry association EFPIA, has been formally adopted by the Council of the EU.

With a total budget of €2 billion, IMI will fund pan-European public-private partnerships in biomedical research. The objective of IMI is to speed up the discovery and development of better medicines for patients. In doing so, IMI will attract pharmaceutical investment in Europe. The first call for proposals will be launched in early 2008. An information day is scheduled to take place in Brussels on 21 February 2008.

“Today, despite all the advances being made in areas from cancer, metabolic and infectious diseases, there is still much work to be done”, commented Arthur J. Higgins, President of EFPIA and CEO of Bayer HealthCare.

“The IMI is a bold and innovative initiative bringing together public authorities, regulators, patients, academia and industry with the aim of boosting biomedical research in Europe. By addressing key bottlenecks in the research and development of new drugs in pre-competitive R&D, the IMI will challenge the status quo of drug discovery. This is a great example of how public and private partners can join forces to really make a difference and improve the health and wealth of European citizens. We are proud to take part in this historic initiative.”

The IMI is a Joint Technology Initiative, a major new element of the EU's 7th Research Framework Programme (FP7 2007-2013). The ‘IMI Joint Undertaking’, the new legal entity established to manage the funds, will receive €1 billion from FP7. This investment will be matched by EFPIA companies with in-kind contributions worth €1 billion, including R&D resources such as staff, laboratories, materials and clinical research capabilities.

FP7 funds will be used exclusively to boost the R&D capabilities of the public sector and small and medium sized companies, whereas EFPIA companies will bear their own costs.

The aim of the Innovative Medicines Initiative and its research agenda is not to produce specific treatments but to address the key ‘bottlenecks’ in the biomedical R&D process, namely: lack of efficacy and clinical safety concerns.

Therefore projects will focus on safety and efficacy, but also on knowledge management and education and training. Progress in these four areas will hopefully lead to faster discovery and development of better medicines, providing new tools which can be applied to different therapeutic areas, including rare and neglected diseases. This will in turn enable patients to have faster access to innovative therapies.

The collaborative approach fostered by IMI aims to reduce risks for all partners and enable them to develop new products faster, through access to shared resources, tools and infrastructure. The project also offers opportunities for companies specialised in the development of tools and technologies supporting medicine development, such as in vitro, in vivo and in silico modelling (computer simulation).

Research projects will be selected for funding according to strict criteria. More information about the IMI research agenda and application process are available on www.imi-europe.org - See also European Commission website