Last month we reported on the excellent news that the European Medicines Agency had recommended marketing authorisation for an IMI-supported treatment, EMBLAVEO®, for severe infections and hospital-associated pneumonias caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This month we can announce that EMBLAVEO® has now been authorised by the European Commission for the European market; the rapid authorisation underlines the importance of novel antibiotics to tackle the significant threat antimicrobial resistance poses to the healthcare and well-being of European citizens.
This success shows how large public-private partnerships can make a big difference in challenging fields. If you want to get involved in these kinds of projects, now’s your chance, as we have just published our draft topics for IHI call 8. From personal experience I know that building a large, collaborative consortium takes a lot of time and effort – we publish the indicative topics early to give everyone an opportunity to start shaping a response to the call. The topics are exciting and so this is the time to get started!
Finally, we highlight the importance of prevention – taking advantage of opportunities for early diagnosis and preventive treatments such as vaccines to lessen the burden of disease. Our new projects on liver disease are good examples: early diagnosis and treatment would change patients' lives for the better, but it’s a challenging area that needs a cross-sector, pre-competitive approach to make progress.
Niklas Blomberg, IHI Executive Director
