Personalised medicine: ANR, partner of the new H2020 EU-Africa project
Personalised medicine aims to deliver the right treatment to the right patient at the right time by relying on specific characteristics of individuals such as omics data or information on the lifestyle of patients and citizens. With the emergence of Big Data and new technologies, personalised medicine allows to improve diagnostic and risk prediction tools, to develop more targeted therapeutic strategies, to enhance therapeutic decision-making and to implement effective prevention measures.
ANR is a member of consortia and funding instruments dedicated to personalised medicine, in order to facilitate the integration of these new approaches into medical practice, to promote the engagement of patients and citizens in research and health systems, to participate in the coordination of research activities and the funding of projects through specific calls.
Consortia and funding instruments involving the ANR
ICPerMed
ANR has been particularly involved in this theme since 2016 and the creation of the International Consortium for Personalised Medicine – ICPerMed, initiated by the European Commission, which already brings together more than 40 members representing ministries and funding agencies of EU Member States, Canada, Brazil, Israel, Iran and Turkey. This consortium provides a platform to discuss the different aspects of personalised medicine and establish a strategic agenda necessary for its implementation within health systems.
ICPerMed, through international coordination, makes it possible to align regional and national research activities and to support interested countries and regions in implementation by providing them with a roadmap and recommendations on personalised medicine approaches.
In ICPerMed, ANR is in charge of leading a working group dedicated to personalised medicine in healthcare system that aims to facilitate the integration of these new approaches into medical practice. ANR also participates in a working group aiming at promoting the engagement of patients and citizens in research and in health systems.
ICPerMed Secretariat
In addition, ANR is one of the four members of the ICPerMed Secretariat whose task is to support and coordinate the activities of the ICPerMed consortium. To this end, the European Commission financially supports the Secretariat over the period 2016-2024 with a total amount of € 4 million.
ANR is in charge of two main objectives. The first is to stimulate cooperation and knowledge transfer by organising events bringing together the key players in the health ecosystem (researchers, doctors, hospital practitioners, health authorities, decision-makers, patients and citizens), aiming to promote standards and good practices but also to develop new strategic documents based on the state of the art in personalised medicine. The second objective is to map, analyse and evaluate activities and initiatives in personalised medicine in order to monitor the progress made in this area and to issue targeted communications according to the level of implementation.
ERA PerMed
ERA PerMed as ERA Net, a research-funding instrument dedicated to personalised medicine, receiving support by the European Commission as part of its Horizon 2020 programme allowing regional and national funding agencies to launch calls for proposals. ANR chairs the ERA PerMed consortium since 2018, bringing together 32 regional, European and international partners.
Through three joint transnational calls (2018-2020), already 65 research projects are funded for an amount of € 76.2 million, enabling 345 research teams to advance knowledge in the field of personalised medicine. With a national budget of € 8.45 million, ANR is financing 38 French teams through 31 projects.
A fourth transnational call has been launched wishing to promote innovative interdisciplinary collaboration and to encourage translational research proposals. The available budget for this call is 24 Mio € (approx.). You will find more information here.
EU-Africa PerMed
ANR is also participating in the EU-Africa PerMed project funded by the European Commission's H2020 framework programme and launched on February 01, 2021. The objective is to integrate the priorities of ICPerMed within African countries, to support the adoption of standards developed in Europe and to create synergies between the European Union and the African Union to promote new research and health policies.
The Agency is notably responsible, alongside INSERM, for developing international collaborations and identifying future actions in personalised medicine to be established between Africa and Europe. The objective is to build a lasting relationship between these two continents in terms of research, development, innovation and implementation for a better integration of the African needs in the international agenda for personalised medicine.
In addition, ANR plays an ambassadorial role allowing, on the one hand, the integration of organisations of African Union countries within the ICPerMed consortium and the ERA PerMed programme and promoting, on the other hand, the dialogue between the European Union and the African Union to develop strategic partnerships.
Horizon Europe and European Partnerships
In Horizon Europe, the ambitious future framework programme of the European Commission for research and innovation with a total budget of 95.4 billion euros, a European Partnership dedicated to personalised medicine is proposed. ICPerMed and ERA PerMed published a jointly developed draft concept paper describing their vision of the objectives, activities and expected impacts as well as the general framework for this partnership. An information day to further promote this partnership is scheduled for May 31, 1 pm-4 pm. You will find more information here.
More information on ICPerMed: www.icpermed.eu
More information on EU-Africa PerMed: www.EUAfrica-PerMed.eu
More information on ERA PerMed: https://erapermed.isciii.es
The replay of the ICPerMed 2021 conference organised by ANR:
