European academia, biotech and pharma industry join forces to fight diabetes, via IMIDIA project

In another demonstration of pharmaceutical and academia collaboration, the Innovative Medicines Initiative for Diabetes (IMIDIA), a public private consortium funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), yesterday announced the launch of a project focusing on pancreatic islet cell function and survival. Academia, and the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry have joined forces to develop biomarkers and tools to pave the way for improved disease management and ultimately provide a cure for diabetes.

Leading European experts from 14 academic institutions, eight pharmaceutical research organizations and one biotech company in the area of pancreatic ss-cells (the body's own insulin producing cells) officially launched the IMIDIA project. The project is supported by the IMI, a unique public-private partnership between the pharmaceutical industry (represented by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations; EFPIA) and the European Union. The EU contributes a total of EUR 1 billion euros ($1.21 billion) over 10 years, which is matched in-kind by the EFPIA's member companies.

"It has been fascinating to see how a powerful consortium has been formed starting from the different worlds of academic research and the pharmaceutical industry research organizations," stated Werner Kramer from French drug major Sanofi-Aventis, Bernard Thorens from University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and Alain Ktorza from independent French drugmaker Servier, the "Triumvirate" coordinating IMIDIA. "Guided by a sustainable win-win situation for all participants, the collaborative spirit coupled with the free flow of information and data within the IMIDIA project teams will support us - the IMIDIA team - in our endeavor to reach these ambitious goals," they stated.