The funding call fosters research and innovation activities that build close linkages between basic biomedical research, clinical research, physical sciences, bioengineering, bioinformatics and biostatistics, epidemiology, socio-economic research, as well as research on the integration of PM into clinical practice and on ethical, legal and social implications across the participating countries and beyond. This implies a wide range of multidisciplinary activities brought together by different stakeholders from academia (e.g. universities and research institutions), clinics (e.g. clinical laboratories, medical professionals), industry (e.g. pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology companies, information technology companies including health information technology – HIT), policy makers, regulatory/health technology assessment (HTA) agencies and patients/patient organisations.

The overarching goal is to improve disease prevention and disease management, based on broader and more efficiently characterised and defined patient stratification, diagnostics and tailored treatment protocols. Early involvement of regulatory authorities and close interaction with the different key players along the value chain should be included right from the project development phase to bridge the gap between first discoveries or inventions until market access. Proposals submitted under this call are expected to demonstrate the applicability of project outcomes to clinical practice. The clinical relevance of the proposed PM approach needs to be convincingly demonstrated. Moreover, proposals are expected to include research on ethical, legal and socio-economic implications, including health economics and regulation, and/or research on the optimisation of health care systems. They may also consider patient and citizen empowerment and training strategies for the different stakeholders in PM.

The overall objectives of the call are to:

• Support transnational research projects in the field of Personalised Medicine;
• Encourage and enable interdisciplinary collaborations towards the implementation of PM, combining pre-clinical and/or clinical research with bioinformatics components and research on relevant ethical, legal and social aspects and/or research on the optimisation of health care systems;
• Encourage collaboration between academia (research teams from universities, higher education institutions, public research institutions), clinical/public health research (research teams from hospital/ public health, health care settings and other health care organisations), private partners e.g. SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) as well as policy makers, regulatory/HTA agencies and patient organisations.

Scope OF THE CALL

Proposals must be interdisciplinary and clearly demonstrate the potential impact in PM as well as the added value of transnational collaboration.

The funding call will comprise three Research Areas:

Each project proposal MUST address at least one module of Research Area 3 and at least one module of Research Area 1 or 2. The coherent integration and combination of the different Research Areas and Modules in the proposals will be part of the evaluation process.

GENERAL (eligibility) CONDITIONS FOR APPLICATION

Joint research proposals may be submitted by applicants belonging to one of the following categories (A, B and/or C), if eligible according to their respective regional/national funding organisation’s regulations for research funding:

1. Academia (research teams working in universities, other higher education institutions) or research institutes;
2. Clinical/public health sector (research teams working in hospitals/public health and/or other health care settings and health organisations). Participation of clinicians (e.g. medical doctors, nurses) in the research teams is encouraged;
3. (Industry) Private partners, e.g. SMEs (small and medium-size enterprises).

Although proposals will be submitted jointly by research groups from several regions/countries, research groups will be funded by the respective funding organisation of the region/country from which they have applied. Applicants are therefore subject to the eligibility criteria of their respective funding organisations. Applicants are strongly advised to contact their regional/national representatives of the participating relevant funding organisation as soon as possible in order to confirm their eligibility.

OPEN CALL  – March 05, 2020

DEADLINE CALL – June 15, 2020