Inno4Vac hosts final stakeholder meeting in Leiden

Researchers, trial organisers, ethics experts, regulators as well as industry and community representatives converged in Leiden, The Netherlands, on 28-29 September 2026 for the Inno4Vac Final Stakeholder Meeting, co-organised by WP11 and WP6 leads, IABS-EU and European Vaccine Initiative, in close collaboration with Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC).

29 September 2026

The final stakeholder workshop of the Inno4Vac project brought together regulators, researchers, ethicists, and community representatives to review the project's key achievements and lessons learned in the field of Controlled Human Infection Models (CHIMs). Participants discussed scientific and regulatory gaps, identified priorities for future CHIM development, and explored how these models can be used more effectively to accelerate vaccine research and development.

The meeting also facilitated a broad stakeholder dialogue on the ethical, regulatory, and societal considerations surrounding CHIM studies. Key discussions focused on third-party risk, public acceptability, and the measures needed to support the responsible and ethical use of CHIMs in future vaccine research.

The two-day meeting was structured as follows:

Day 1: Where we are today, and where we go next

• CHIM development, achievements, and challenges

• Gaps and potential solutions identified through Inno4Vac stakeholder meetings thus far;

• Academic, Clinical and Industry Expert Panel: Which CHIMs to prioritise next?;

• Next Generation Sequencing in challenge agent quality control;

• EU GMO Regulation & proposal to reduce administrative burden while preserving high-level safety requirements.

Day 2: People at the heart of CHIM studies

• Expert panel: third-party risk mitigation and its practical and ethical limits;

• Beyond the investigator’s view: Community expectations and acceptability;

• The meeting closed with a Keynote Lecture (Esther Peters, Leiden Bioscience Campus) on “Exposing potential of the campus and innovation challenges for the Netherlands and the EU”.

  
  

Key takeaways and recommendations from the meeting will be compiled into a forthcoming publication. Inno4Vac project partners are grateful to the speakers, moderators, and participants for their efforts to advance CHIMs as a vehicle to enable faster, safer vaccines globally.

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This project has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 101007799 (Inno4Vac). This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA (www.imi.europa.eu). 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