Alzheimer Europe collaborates in a new coordination and support action of the Innovative Medicines Initiative
On 21 March (Madrid, Spain), the new Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) coordination and support action entitled “Efficiently Networking European Neurodegeneration Research” (NEURONET) held its kick-off meeting. The main aim of NEURONET is to set up an efficient platform to boost synergy and collaboration across the IMI projects of the Neurodegenerative Disorders (ND) portfolio, assisting in identifying gaps, multiplying its impact, enhancing its visibility and facilitating dovetailing with related initiatives in Europe and worldwide.
The kick-off meeting was attended by 17 consortium partners, including IMI Project Officer, Elisabetta Vaudano who joined remotely. It started with an opening session by Project Coordinator, Carlos Dìaz (SYNAPSE Research Management Partners) and Project Leader, Darrel Pamberton (Janssen Pharmaceutical NV) who provided an introduction to the NEURONET concept and vision. After that, each partner introduced their institution and provided the attendees with an overview of their links to the past, current and future projects of the IMI ND portfolio. Following the tour-de-table, the leaders of the different work streams introduced the scope of their work package, gave details on tasks that will be conducted throughout the three years of initial project funding and provided insights on how the different work streams depend on each other.
In between, Elisabetta Vaudano provided IMIs perspective on NEURONET. She started her presentation with an introduction to the scope IMI foresees NEURONET to cover and explained that there will already be an interim review of the project after the first year at which the activities of the coordination and support action will be evaluated. She then provided input on various areas where NEURONET should align with IMI activities.
The project is set up to focus on five key areas of work:
- WP1 Project and impact analysis (led by NICE/Takeda)
- WP2 Programme integration (led by Synapse/Sanofi)
- WP3 Tools and services (led by SYNAPSE/Parkinson’s UK)
- WP4 Dissemination & Outreach (led by Alzheimer Europe/Roche)
- WP5 CSA Management & Sustainability (Synapse/Eli Lilly)
Alzheimer Europe’s role in this project is two-fold. On one hand, it will be co-leading the communication and dissemination team along with Roche, where they will develop communication tools such as the website as part of the comprehensive communication strategy. On the other hand, it will lead on the development of guidelines and advice on protection of patient privacy, but also other tasks related to the development of tools and services in support of the transition towards a federated neurodegeneration research portfolio.
