Integrating and managing data from diverse sources is a key theme for two of the new projects. For example, the €56.4 million EMIF project has the goal of creating a common information framework of patient-level data that will link up and facilitate access to diverse medical and research data sources. In its initial phase, the project team will focus on obesity and Alzheimer's disease research. Meanwhile the eTRIKS project is setting up a research data and analysis platform for use by all IMI projects that need to integrate and share data from different sources.
Another cluster of projects focuses on the delivery of drugs and their behaviour once in the body. ORBITO is developing new ways to study how drugs are absorbed by the gut; currently, our understanding of this issue is limited.
Biopharmaceuticals, novel drugs based on biological molecules like proteins, could prove effective at treating many diseases, but getting these drugs to where they are needed in the body is far from easy; tackling this problem is the goal of the COMPACT project.
Drugs work by interacting with a target molecule; the K4DD project aims to develop new tools that will allow researchers to study this interaction in greater detail; this information will help scientists determine whether a potential drug is safe and effective.
Finally, CHEM21 takes a green chemistry approach to the drug development process, as it aims to make the process more environmentally friendly, something that will also cut costs for the pharmaceutical sector.
Michel Goldman, IMI Executive Director commented: "Issues like data management and our need for greater understanding of how drugs behave in the body are currently hampering drug development. By addressing these key issues, IMI's exciting new projects will help to dramatically improve the drug development process and ultimately speed up the generation of safer and more effective drugs for patients."
The new projects mean that IMI now has 37 ongoing projects with a combined budget of almost €800 million. Furthermore, IMI has a number of major projects in the pipeline; an initiative to create a Joint European Compound Collection and Screening Centre, and a major programme on antimicrobial resistance, will be launched in the near future.
About IMI
IMI is the world's largest public-private partnership in health. IMI is improving the environment for pharmaceutical innovation in Europe by engaging and supporting networks of industrial and academic experts in collaborative research projects. The European Union contributes €1 billion to the IMI research programme, which is matched by in kind contributions worth at least another €1 billion from the member companies of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).
The Innovative Medicines Initiative is currently funding 37 projects, many of which are already producing impressive results. The projects all address major bottlenecks which will accelerate the development of safer and more effective treatments for patients.