CRIMALDDI

The Coordination, Rationalisation and Integration of Antimalarial Drug Discovery and Development Initiatives


Framework programme:: 7
Contract/Grant agreement number:: 222948
EC contribution:: 500,000 €
Duration:: 24 months
Funding scheme:: Coordination Action
Starting date:: 01/01/2007

Keywords: Malaria, drugs, public private partnerships, coordination

Background

There are a number of European and international initiatives that are committed to antimalarial drug discovery and development, but they are fragmented and uncoordinated. This action will coordinate leading European malaria research initiatives in antimalarial drug discovery and development, integrate the European effort with international initiatives, engage industry and provide guidance on standardisation of core requirements of regulatory drug development. The goal is to contribute towards generating global priorities and prepare the European antimalarial research agenda for the next decade.

Globally, antimalarial drug discovery and development initiatives are fragmented and uncoordinated, with few links between programmes. There is an urgent need for coordination, rationalisation and integration among initiatives to ensure that research priorities are identified in a systematic and transparent way and that programmes conform to standardised and internationally acceptable methods without excessive duplication. Engagement with small and large industrial partners and endemic country scientists, all of whom could contribute significantly to these initiatives, is weak as are dissemination efforts.

Aims and expected results

We have brought together key organisations including the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Gates Foundation and a number of academic malaria researchers to resolve this problem through a logical series of meetings, conferences, workshops and dissemination strategies. The action will coordinate leading European malaria research initiatives in antimalarial drug discovery and development, coordinate the European effort with international initiatives, engage industry, provide guidance on standardisation of core requirements of regulatory drug development, contribute towards generating global priorities and prepare the European antimalarial research agenda for the next decade.

A coordinated action plan will be published and a five-year rolling review timetable will be established with quantitative endpoints mapped directly onto the action plan. An expert advisory group will be established and this group will work towards securing funding to enable the five-year review and updated timetable. The result is a coordinated, rationalised and integrated series on initiatives that are monitored and updated continuously to meet the ongoing needs of malaria drug development for the future.

Potential applications:

The model that will be established in this coordination action can be applied to other disease areas, particularly (but not exclusively) in relation to neglected diseases.

Coordinator:

Prof. Steve Ward
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Liverpool
UK
E-mail: saward@liv.ac.uk

Partners: