The power of collaboration

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Challenging areas benefit from a collaborative approach - a word from our director

Last month we reported on the excellent news that the European Medicines Agency had recommended marketing authorisation for an IMI-supported treatment, EMBLAVEO®, for severe infections and hospital-associated pneumonias caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This month we can announce that EMBLAVEO® has now been authorised by the European Commission for the European market; the rapid authorisation underlines the importance of novel antibiotics to tackle the significant threat antimicrobial resistance poses to the healthcare and well-being of European citizens.

This success shows how large public-private partnerships can make a big difference in challenging fields. If you want to get involved in these kinds of projects, now’s your chance, as we have just published our draft topics for IHI call 8. From personal experience I know that building a large, collaborative consortium takes a lot of time and effort – we publish the indicative topics early to give everyone an opportunity to start shaping a response to the call. The topics are exciting and so this is the time to get started!

Finally, we highlight the importance of prevention – taking advantage of opportunities for early diagnosis and preventive treatments such as vaccines to lessen the burden of disease. Our new projects on liver disease are good examples: early diagnosis and treatment would change patients' lives for the better, but it’s a challenging area that needs a cross-sector, pre-competitive approach to make progress.

Niklas Blomberg, IHI Executive Director

Just published: draft topics for IHI call 8

A picture of a hand holding up a megaphone against a turquoise background. Image by Sergey Mironov via Shutterstock
The topics are on tackling heart disease in cities, osteoarthritis and big data, regulatory sandboxes for breakthrough innovation, and clinical study endpoints from digital health technologies.
Find out more 
Antimicrobial resistance. Image credit: nobeastsofierce via Shutterstock.
IMI-supported treatment against multidrug-resistant bacteria approved by European Commission
Two clinical studies for the treatment, EMBLAVEO®, were carried out under IMI project COMBACTE-CARE, highlighting how our projects have strengthened the research ecosystem in the antimicrobial field.
Illustration of antimicrobial resistance. Image credit: nobeastsofierce via Shutterstock
Sign up for our event on IMI’s impact on antimicrobial resistance
Join us on 31 May for a webinar highlighting the impact that the COMBACTE projects are having on the development of urgently-needed treatments for some of the most serious resistant infections.

IM2PACT removes roadblocks to future Alzheimer’s therapies

Visualisation of the blood-brain barrier. Image by ART-ur via Shutterstock
A new study used methods developed in the IMI project IM2PACT to show that brain endothelial cells are enriched in genes that indicate a risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Read more 
Baby receiving pertussis vaccine. Image by adriaticfoto via Shutterstock.
PERISCOPE model accelerates development of new pertussis vaccine
A nasal vaccine against pertussis that was tested using a model and cell bank created by the PERISCOPE project is entering the final phases of clinical trials.
Vaccines in storage. Image credit: anon_tae via Shutterstock.
Vaccine stability predicted by Inno4Vac’s advanced computer models
The Inno4Vac project is leveraging advanced modelling techniques to improve vaccine stability, which can help to reduce vaccine waste.

COMBINE-CT project to improve diagnosis and care of common heart disease

CT scanner in use. Image credit: Philips
The new IHI project aims to boost the use of non-invasive CT scans in the diagnosis and care of people with coronary artery disease.
Read more 
Fatty liver cells. Image by Kateryna Kon via Shutterstock
New IHI project aims to get ‘grip’ on common liver condition
The GRIPonMASH project aims to transform the way we detect and diagnose a common, but little-known, liver condition dubbed MASLD.
Photomicrograph of liver biopsy in a patient with cirrhosis. Image by David A. Litman via Shutterstock.
LiverAim hopes to stop liver disease in its tracks
The new IHI project plans to set up a platform to identify people in the early stages of liver disease, when damage to the liver can be halted and even reversed.
© Fraunhofer IBMT, Foto: Bernd Müller
In conversation with… EBiSC
This online event on 15 May will showcase the IMI project EBiSC2, which provides the scientific community with high-quality induced pluripotent stem cells - key tools for research and drug development.
Photo of the event venue. Image by creativemarc via Shutterstock.
Meet IHI at the MedTech Forum 2024
This year’s MedTech Forum features two sessions on IHI, and the IHI team will have a stand at the exhibition. The event takes place in Vienna, Austria from 22 to 24 May.
Back view of a crowd at an event. Image by Anton Gvozdikov via Shutterstock.
BIO International Convention to feature IHI-led session on rare diseases
The IHI session on 5 June is entitled ‘Breaking the rare disease deadlock through multi-stakeholder collaboration’ and features high-level experts from both sides of the Atlantic.
Wooden cubes with date of 22 May on old blue wooden background. Image by IhorL via Shutterstock
IHI call 7 deadline approaching!
The deadline for IHI call 7 is 22 May at 17:00 CEST (Brussels time)! If you have any questions, send them to us sooner rather than later, and don’t wait until the last minute to finalise and submit your proposal.