ERA4Health will soon announce the IICS4all 2027 call for clinical trials

Fostering a European Research Area for Health (ERA4Health): a partnership that aims to establish flexible and effective coordination among research funding organizations in the European Research Area (ERA) in priority areas addressing European public health needs, will launch a joint transnational call for proposals at the end of October 2026 focused on clinical studies, titled “Multi-national Investigator-Initiated Clinical Studies in Cardiovascular, Autoimmune, Metabolic, and Non-Communicable Respiratory Diseases, including Underrepresented Populations (IICS4all 2027).”

The aim of the call is to:

• to support pragmatic, randomized controlled, international Phase III intervention clinical trials initiated by researchers ( Investigator-Initiated Clinical Studies, IICS).

Two types of studies will be supported:

• comparative effectiveness studies;
• drug repurposing studies of off-patent drugs.

Studies must focus on at least one or a combination of the following areas:

• cardiovascular disease;
• metabolic disorders;
• autoimmune diseases;
• non-communicable respiratory diseases.

At the same time, emphasis is placed on involving diverse groups of patients, taking into account their gender, age, and other relevant characteristics.

Projects should take into account the following aspects: 

• The design of a clinical trial must be appropriately chosen to enable the research question to be answered (study population, sampling, statistical analysis, interpretation of results, and relevant models for testing the hypothesis…), and must be properly justified in the study protocol.
• The design and objectives of a clinical trial must take into account the participant population needed to achieve the study’s stated objective. The protocol must include strategies for recruiting and retaining participants, their evaluation , and data analysis.
• In efficacy comparison studies, the use of currently approved or existing medical interventions used in clinical practice is compared, either with one another or with the current standard of care.
• In the case of studies focused on new uses for drugs, the goal is to explore new indications for approved drugs. Since this call for proposals is funded by public funds, clinical trials conducted for commercial purposes are excluded; therefore, only studies focused on new uses for drugs whose patent protection has already expired are permitted.  

Clinical trials conducted for direct commercial purposes and/or in medical fields other than those mentioned above are not covered by this call.

The Ministry of Health / Agency for Health Research ČR will participate in this call!

Currently, national rules and conditions for Czech applicants are being prepared, which will be based on the Programme for the Support of Applied Health Research for 2024-2030: Subprogramme 3: European Partnerships in Health, and will be published on the website of AZV HealthAZV ofČR CzechČR AZV azvcr.cz) by the date of the call announcement.

The MoHCR will support Czech applicants through the national budget allocation. The total amount for the call will be EUR 500 000. 

Important: The standard project duration for this call is 4 years/48 months. However, in light of national conditions and the need to ensure compliance with the Program to Support Applied Health Research for 2024–2030, funding for the participation of Czech principal investigators is limited to 3 years/36 months. Therefore, an exception has been granted for their participation in this call, allowing for this shorter period of involvement. However, the Czech principal investigator(PI) may only act as a partner in the consortium project proposal, NOT as the coordinator.

Only transnational projects will be funded. The call will be a two-round call. 

Provisional timetable of the call:

More information about the call’s objectives and scope, topics, countries that have expressed interest in participating, national contact points, and other specific conditions is available on the official EP ERA4Health website and in the call’s background document, which can be downloaded HERE.