ERDERA Partnership: the 1st transnational rare disease call is about to be launched!
On 10 December 2024, the European Rare Diseases Research Alliance (ERDERA): a partnership whose key effort is to improve the lives of 30 million patients with rare diseases in Europe and beyond, will launch the first transnational call "Pre-clinical therapy studies for rare diseases using small molecules and bilogicals - development and validation".
The aim of the call is to enable researchers from different countries to establish effective collaborations based on complementarity and sharing of expertise, with the expected impact being the future use of results for the benefit of patients.
Projects will focus on a group of rare diseases or on a single rare disease as defined in Europe, i.e. a disease that affects no more than 5 out of 10 000 people in the EU, associated countries and Canada.
The Ministry of Health / Agency for Health Research ČR will participate in this call!
The national rules and conditions for Czech applicants are currently being prepared and will be based on the Programme for the Support of Applied Health Research 2024-2030: Sub-programme 3: European Partnerships in Health, and will be published on the website AZV ČR by the time of the call announcement. We therefore recommend that you keep an eye on the website AZV ČR as well as the official call website here.
MZ ČR will support Czech applicants through the national budget allocation. The total amount of funding for the call will be EUR 500 000.
Project proposals should cover at least one of the following areas:
1. Development of new therapies in a preclinical setting through studies in cellular, organoid and animal models, screening of molecules or the use of in silico models or artificial intelligence.
2. Development of predictive and pharmacodynamic biomarkers correlating with treatment efficacy in the preclinical setting that could serve as surrogate endpoints.
3. Replication of preclinical studies in an independent laboratory to increase the validity of exploratory findings.
4. Preclinical proof-of-concept studies demonstrating in vitro and in vivo pharmacological activity , pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the drug and initial toxicological and safety data.
5. Studies to support readiness to initiate a clinical trial authorization in accordance with regulatory requirements.
Only transnational projects will be funded. Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of partners from at least four to six countries involved in the call (including ČR). One of these four to six partners must be a young (early stage) researcher. A maximum of two eligible partners from the same country may be present in each consortium. Patient organisations applying for funding are not included in the total number. The call will be a two-round call.
Provisional timetable of the call:
- 10 December 2024: Call launch
- 17 December 2024: Information webinar for potential applicants
- 13 Feb 2025: Deadline for submission of pre-proposals
- Start of May 2025: Call for full proposals
- 6 May 2025: Information webinar for applicants invited to submit full proposals
- 9.7.2025: Deadline for submission of full proposals
- December 2025: announcement of funding decision
For more information on the excluded topics, the countries that have expressed interest in participating in this call, the national contact points and the conditions regarding the composition of the consortium, please visit the official ERDERA website. They are also available in the background document to the call, which can be downloaded here.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the European Partnerships in Healthcare Coordinator:
