The Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 (IMI2) Joint Undertaking mobilised more than € 38.5 million to support Inno4Vac, an innovative public-private partnership to accelerate vaccine R&D timelines. It will focus on the design and application of new and highly advanced predictive models to allow a faster development and manufacturing of novel vaccines.
July 29th, 2021
Vaccination is one of the most impactful public health interventions in history, saving the lives of an estimated 2.5 million people[1] every year and protecting millions more from illness and disability. Classical vaccine research and development timelines remain nevertheless long and costly, as it takes on average more than 10 years and costs more than € 800 million [2] to bring a new vaccine to the market. Leveraging advances in technology and data science will be instrumental in providing new paths to vaccine development as the accelerated development of COVID vaccines demonstrated.
Inno4Vac is a new interdisciplinary project funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 (IMI2) that aims to foster health innovation by incorporating scientific and technological breakthrough from the academic and biotech sectors into industry. It is coordinated by the European Vaccine Initiative (Germany), with the support from the Sclavo Vaccines Association (Italy), for the scientific coordination, and involves 41 partners from 11 different European countries, including 37 academic institutions and SMEs, as well as GSK, Sanofi Pasteur, CureVac and Takeda as industry partners.
‘The Inno4Vac project will harness the newest scientific discoveries to speed up vaccine development’, says Dr. Ole Olesen, EVI’s Executive Director. ‘With the visionary support of IMI2 we are looking forward to work with some of the world’s most talented researchers from academia, biotech and industry in applying new technologies that can bring new vaccines faster to the market.’
Four main areas will be addressed by Inno4Vac in an integrated manner:
(1) artificial intelligence will be used for in silico vaccine immune response and efficacy prediction;
(2) a modular computational platform will be developed for in silico modelling of vaccine bio-manufacturing and stability testing;
(3) new and improved controlled human infection models (CHIM) of influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and Clostridium difficile will be established to enable early vaccine efficacy evaluation, and
(4) novel cell-based human in vitro 3D models will be developed to reliably predict immune protection.
Dr. Hilde Depraetere, Director of Operations at EVI and overall leader of Inno4Vac, comments that “jointly, we have developed an ambitious workplan that will harness the latest advances in immunology, disease modelling and in silico and mathematical modelling in order to accelerate the development of new vaccines.”
The ultimate goal of the combined effort pursued by Inno4Vac is to develop more predictive biological and mathematical models of vaccine performance, and thereby to accelerate the development of new vaccines. The design of a sustainability plan will also be carried out by the project partners to ensure the long-term access to the project results, including models, beyond the duration of the Inno4Vac project.
European Vaccine Initiative (EVI), co-coordinator of Inno4Vac, is a not-for-profit Product Development Partnership (PDP) that supports the development of safe, effective and affordable vaccines for global health. Since its inception in 1998, EVI worked closely with partners and donors worldwide to move more than 40 vaccine formulations forward.
EVI operates as an independent, science-driven organisation, leading innovative solutions while supporting vaccine R&D in a disease-overarching manner through cross-cutting activities, capacity strengthening and advocacy.
Quick facts about Inno4Vac:
Start Date: 01/09/2021
End Date: 28/02/2027
Coordinator: European Vaccine Initiative (EVI)
This project has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 101007799. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA.
This communication reflects the author´s view and neither IMI nor the European Union, EFPIA, or any Associated Partners are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.
Contact:European Vaccine Initiative - Coordinator
Catarina Luis (Communication)
Email: catarina.luis@euvaccine.eu
Phone: +49 176 3043 9534
Romina Di Marzo (Communication)
Email: romina.dimarzo@euvaccine.eu
Phone: +49 176 6208 4000
Dr. Hilde Depraetere (Project Lead)
Inno4Vac partners:
European Vaccine Initiative, DE
Sclavo Vaccines Association, IT
2-control ApS, DK
Stichting Centre for Human Drug Research, NL
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, DE
Enpicom BV, NL
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, DE
Helmholtz Center for Infection Research GmbH, DE
Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine London, UK
Insilico Biotechnology AG, DE
Instituto de Engenhariade Sistemas e Computadores, Tecnologia e Ciencia, PT
Association Internationales de Standardisation Biologique pour L´Europe, FR
Leiden University Medical Center, NL
Lunds Universitet, Department of Chemical Engineering, SE
Meyer Chroma Technology APS, DK
Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, UK
Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu, NL
Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, DE
Pharmalex Belgium, BE
Sciensano, BE
Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, DK
Nova ID FCT – Associação para a Inovação e Desenvolvimento de FCT, PT
University College London, UK
Universitätsklinikum Jena, DE
Klinikum der Universität zu Köln, DE
University Medical Center Groningen, NL
Universitetet I Bergen, NO
Goeteborgs Universitet, SE
The University of Nottingham, UK
Universitetet I Oslo, NO
The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford, UK
Universita Degli Studi di Siena, IT
Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover, DE
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, DE
Universiteit Utrecht, NL
Viroclinics Biosciences BV, NL
VisMederi SRL, IT
GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA, BE
Sanofi Pasteur SA, FR
Takeda Pharmaceuticals International AG, CH
CureVac AG, DE
References:
1. Duclos, P., Okwo-Bele, J. M., Gacic-Dobo, M., & Cherian, T. (2009). Global immunization: status, progress, challenges and future. BMC international health and human rights, 9 Suppl 1(Suppl 1), S2. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-698X-9-S1-S2 via https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/vaccines-the-powerful-innovations-bringing-who-s-mission-to-life-every-day
2. Douglas, R. G., & Samant, V. B. (2018). The Vaccine Industry. Plotkin's Vaccines, 41–50.e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-35761-6.00004-3