EATRIS Aims to Bridge Translational Gap in Europe’s Pharma Industry
The official launch of the European Advanced Translational Research Infrastructure in Medicine (EATRIS) at today’s inaugural conference aims to shorten the time from research to treatment by bringing together the world of scientific medical research and applications in the clinic.
The initiative is based on delivering cutting-edge translational technologies from the European academic partnership of translational infrastructure which operates through a pan-European consortium of 60 prominent academic institutions, including leading biomedical translational research centres.
With growing concern that biomedical research is struggling to be translated into products for clinical application, such as novel drugs, vaccines and diagnostics, it is hoped that EATRIS can support the industry to deliver new medical innovations to patients.
The first EATRIS Conference on Translational Medicine is being held on 3-4 June 2013 in Amsterdam, with the aim of formally launching the organisation and providing a forum to debate how the EATRIS infrastructure can support translating science into medical in Europe.
Scientific director Dr Giovanno Migliaccionotes that EATRIS is not just a service provider facilitating product development with the help of a team of specialised scientists, but it also strategically aims to improve outcomes in translational medicine, by challenging current paradigms of therapeutic and diagnostic product development.
Migliaccio comments: “The inauguration of EATRIS activities comes after a lengthy preparation. We are confident that our research infrastructure will have a positive impact on the translational medicines field within the European Research Area and will deliver significant and tangible benefits to Europe's citizens”.
He says: “This will also allow Member States to avoid infrastructure duplications, and facilitates more efficient use of the available resources in these scientifically and economically challenging times”.
Sufferers of rare diseasesare one of the first targetsfor EATRIS because it is believed that the gap between upstream research and new drugsbeingready for the clinic is wide and efforts needto be made to shortenthis. Ultimately this means, more and better treatment, as well as diagnostics and preventive measures, will be made available to an increased number of patients and at a lower cost.
The vision is that EATRIS will become a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), a legal entity created specifically for setting up joint researchfacilities at a European level, to support the pharmaceutical sector in Europe.
Anton Ussi, Head of Operations of EATRIS believes that once fully operational the organisation will be “proud to play a supporting role at the genesis of innovation, easing the complex journey from brilliant science to high utility medical product, by providing access to the requisite expertise with efficiency and goal-directedness”.
EATRIS is a client driven, not-profit organisation comprising of European academic centres of excellence in translational research.