Participants
More than 20 pharmaceutical companies were invited to the workshop. Representatives from Crucell, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Emergent Biosolutions, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson&Johnson, Merck Serono, Novartis, Quintiles, Sanofi, and ViiV Healthcare as well as from EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations) have already confirmed their attendance. Representatives from the Medicines Patent Pool, the Sabin Vaccine Institute and the Directorate General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission will also participate in the discussions.

Dr Line Matthiessen-Guyader, Head of Unit F3 – Infectious Diseases and Public Health, Directorate General for Research and Innovation, European Commission, and Professor Simon Croft, Head of the Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine will co-chair the meeting and facilitate the discussion.

Prof. Hannah Akuffo, the Chair of the General Assembly, and Prof. Charles Mgone, Executive Director, as well as members of the EDCTP scientific advisory bodies will represent EDCTP.

Agenda
The objective of the workshop is to explore concrete possibilities of closer future collaboration with pharmaceutical companies. The agenda for the workshop features a presentation by EFPIA on the role of pharmaceutical industry in the fight against poverty-related and neglected infectious diseases and on challenges and gaps faced in conducting clinical trials in sub-Saharan Africa. EDCTP will highlight opportunities for the industry to work in partnership with the programme based on its experience of supporting clinical trials in sub-Saharan Africa, its achievements in brokering partnerships in  conducting such trials, strengthening clinical trial capacity and building regional research networks. A summary of the results from the exploratory interviews EDCTP held with many pharmaceutical companies, will also be presented.

The greater part of the meeting will be dedicated to discussing a range of challenges and opportunities, including the following:

• Product selection, trial design, funding and conducting of phase II/III clinical trials through multiple partners
• Testing of cross-company combination regimens
• Data management, access and disclosure
• Optimising future EDCTP calls for proposal to facilitate partnerships with industry.
  The outcome of the workshop will be summarised in view of a framework document and statement of work including a publication and dissemination plan.

Background
In 2011, the EDCTP Private Sector Relations (PSR) Working Group, led by EDCTP Executive Director Prof. Charles Mgone and coordinated by EDCTP PSR Officer Christa Janko, explored possibilities for both broader and more direct involvement of the pharmaceutical industry in the EDCTP programme. Since January 2012, EDCTP has been meeting key representatives of pharmaceutical companies to prepare for this workshop.

The initiative to intensify collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry is part of a broader EDCTP effort to foster cooperation of public and private partners for clinical research on poverty-related and neglected infectious diseases. This cooperation is essential as the challenges in the fight against these diseases in endemic regions are big and numerous. These challenges require close interaction among all players including international public and private funding organisations, the industry and the players from the disease endemic countries. Wider cooperation will lead to treatment developments in a more cost-effective manner and with less risk and in less time, especially with regard to phase III clinical trials. EDCTP’s mandate and broad network of stakeholders in Europe and Africa, as well as its independent and non-competitive position, enable it to effectively broker and coordinate mutually beneficial cooperation among relevant parties.

For more information, please contact C. Janko, EDCTP Private Sector Relations Officer at janko[at]edctp.org / telephone nr. +43(0)6605073245 or G.O. van de Klashorst, EDCTP Communications Officer at klashorst[at]edctp.org / telephone nr. +31(0)703440885.