African clinical trials awarded €683 million European Union (EU) investment

On Tuesday May 6, the European Council approved an award of €683 million for EU participation in the second programme of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP2), boosting the potential for more innovative medical research into HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.

The European Parliament approved the proposed budget with an overwhelming majority of 646 out of 671 votes last month (15 April).

The EDCTP countries focus their resources on accelerating the rate of development of new or improved treatments and diagnostics against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. This additional funding will allow the EDCTP and their partners to continue to support important initiatives to combat these life-threatening diseases in sub-Saharan Africa and enable much needed investment into additional studies on neglected infectious diseases.

With this additional funding, the EDCTP’s strategy will remain unchanged and continue to promote:

• Multicentre projects that combine clinical trials, capacity building and networking
• Capacity development for clinical trials and clinical research in sub-Saharan countries
• Closer collaboration with industry, like-minded organisations, product development partners, research funders and development cooperation agencies.

“The approval by the European Union of the second EDCTP programme is very welcomed,” says Dr Mark Palmer, Chairperson of the EDCTP General Assembly. “We are excited as this will create new opportunities for research to tackle a number of diseases which all put a very significant health burden on sub-Saharan Africa.”

Find out more about EDCTP2.