EFPIA welcomes EU step towards Innovate Medicines Initiative launch

The European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee voted in favor of the second Innovate Medicines Initiative (IMI2) yesterday.

The move has been welcomed by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) as another step towards the launch of the initiative which will continue the success of the first IMI, a public-private partnership between the European Union (EU) and EFPIA that aims to advance research and development, particularly in areas of unmet medical need.

IMI2 relied heavily on the World Health Organization’s Report on Priority Medicines for Europe and the World in determining its Strategic Research Agenda. IMI2 aims to deliver a 30% better success rate in clinical trials of priority medicines identified by the WHO; clinical proof of concept in immunological, respiratory, neurological and neurodegenerative diseases in just five years; and new and approved diagnostic markers for four of these diseases and at least two new medicines which could either be new antibiotics or new therapies for Alzheimer’s disease. The SRA, an essential element of the evolution from IMI to IMI2, was determined with input from more than 80 organizations, including regulators, patients and academia. The first five big questions to be addressed by IMI2 include neuro-degeneration, metabolic disorders, immune-mediated diseases, infections and translational safety.