Vaccines for poverty-related diseases – 2016

Closed
Type of actionResearch and Innovation Action (RIA)
Open date07 July 2016, 07:00
Close date13 October 2016, 07:00
Budget€ 70M
Funding level100% of eligible costs

The purpose of this call is to support large-scale collaborative projects which include one or more clinical trials (phase I to IV) aiming to accelerate the clinical development of new vaccines (preventive or therapeutic) against one of the PRDs. Applications must include at least one clinical trial which will be carried out in sub-Saharan Africa to test the safety, immunogenicity and/or efficacy of the vaccine(s).


Call identifier: RIA2016V


The purpose of this call is to support large-scale collaborative projects which include one or more clinical trials (phase I to IV) aiming to accelerate the clinical development of new vaccines (preventive or therapeutic) against one of the PRDs. Applications must include at least one clinical trial which will be carried out in sub-Saharan Africa to test the safety, immunogenicity and/or efficacy of the vaccine(s).

Call identifier: RIA2016V

Description

Background
Vaccines have contributed enormously to the successful control and elimination of many diseases. To date, few vaccines have been developed for controlling poverty-related diseases (PRDs)(1). In recent years, several candidate vaccines against PRDs have entered clinical development and there is an urgent need to fast track their development. The aim is to increase the number of promising vaccines targeted for use especially in Africa.

Scope
Applications are invited for large-scale collaborative projects which include one or more clinical trials (phase I to IV) aiming to accelerate the clinical development of new vaccines (preventive or therapeutic) against one of the PRDs. Applications must include at least one clinical trial which will be carried out in sub-Saharan Africa to test the safety, immunogenicity and/or efficacy of the vaccine(s).

Target product profiles, particularly indication, target populations, safety and/or efficacy should be included. Additionally, a clear list of product development milestones including specific go/no-go criteria for the implementation of the proposed clinical trial must be included.

Projects may include detailed analyses of host responses to advance the understanding of mechanisms of reactogenicity (safety), immunogenicity and/or efficacy. Projects should incorporate activities to enhance the capacity of existing trial sites and/or develop new trial sites in sub-Saharan Africa for conduct of vaccine trials.

Applications that leverage support from other funders, particularly the pharmaceutical industry and Product Development Partnerships, are encouraged.

EDCTP considers that proposals for actions of between 36 and 60 months duration would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals for actions of a different duration.

Expected impact
Actions supported under this Call for Proposal should advance the development of promising candidate vaccines for PRDs moving towards regulatory licensure. The actions should also contribute towards a better understanding of the mechanisms of reactogenicity (safety), immunogenicity and/or efficacy profile of the vaccine candidate(s). The projects will build capacity for the evaluation of different vaccines against PRDs in sub-Saharan Africa.

Eligibility
Consortia comprising a minimum of three independent legal entities are eligible to apply. Two of the legal entities must be established in two different European Participating States(2) of the EDCTP Association and one of the legal entities must be established in a sub-Saharan African country(3).All three legal entities shall be independent of each other.

‘Sole participants’ formed by several legal entities (e.g. European Research Infrastructure Consortia, European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation, central purchasing bodies) are eligible if the above-mentioned minimum conditions are satisfied by the legal entities forming together the sole participant.

Notes

  1. For the purpose of this call, PRDs include: HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, and also the following neglected infectious diseases (NIDs): dengue/severe dengue; rabies; human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness); Leishmaniases; cysticercosis/taeniasis; dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease); echinococcosis; food-borne trematodiases; lymphatic filariasis; onchocerciasis (river blindness); schistosomiasis; soil-transmitted helminthiases; Buruli ulcer; leprosy (Hansen disease); trachoma; yaws; diarrhoeal infections; lower respiratory infections; as well as emerging infectious diseases of particular relevance for Africa, such as yellow fever. Ebola Virus Disease vaccine development is specifically excluded from this call since it has already been extensively funded by other parts of the Horizon 2020 programme.
  2. Legal entities in the following European countries: Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
    3. Legal entities in the following sub-Saharan African countries: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé & Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.