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Call key data
Pandemic preparedness and response: Broad spectrum anti-viral therapeutics for infectious diseases with epidemic potential
Funding Program
Horizon Europe - Cluster 1 - Destination 3: Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden
Call number
HORIZON-HLTH-2023-DISEASE-03-04
deadlines
Opening
12.01.2023
Deadline
13.04.2023 17:00
Funding rate
100%
Call budget
€ 50,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
between € 7,000,000.00 and € 8,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
Proposals should develop and advance broad-spectrum anti-viral compounds and develop novel approaches to the development of such compounds, which target viruses with high epidemic or pandemic potential for the EU, such as those included in the list of priority diseases of the World Health Organization (WHO), with particular attention to those meeting the criteria identified by the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA).
Call objectives
As shown by the COVID-19 pandemic, infectious diseases remain a major threat to health and health security in the EU and globally. Viral disease emergence is expected to accelerate due to among other, climate change, and thus a proactive approach to the development of anti-viral therapeutics in preparedness for future infectious disease outbreaks is needed. The availability of broad-spectrum anti-viral therapies would provide a critical preparedness measure against future health threats, due to infectious disease epidemics or pandemics.
Proposals should cover viruses for which there are no currently available effective therapeutics or for which the therapeutics available are sub-optimal, and are expected to incorporate state-of-the-art screening technology and innovative approaches to identify new targets for antiviral compound development. Emphasis should be put on the research and development of broad-spectrum antivirals, which may include repurposing of previously approved or in-pipeline drugs. Proposals could also include elucidation of mode-of-action for candidate anti-viral therapeutics.
Proposals should aim to diversify and accelerate the global therapeutic research and development pipeline for emerging and re-emerging viral infections, and to strengthen the current leading role of the EU in therapeutic research and development.
Proposals should address all of the following areas:
- Preclinical work and proof-of-concept/first-in-human studies and early safety and efficacy trials for testing new or improved anti-viral therapeutics, with a clear regulatory and clinical pathway. Phase IIb/III phase trials will not be supported.
- Innovative delivery systems and suitable safety profiles for broad use should be considered when possible. Attention should be paid to critical social factors such as sex, gender, age, socio-economic factors, ethnicity/migration, and disability.
- Application of novel approaches and widely applicable workflows (e.g. artificial intelligence) for rapid and reliable identification of broad-spectrum anti-viral therapeutics.
Applicants are expected to engage with regulatory bodies in a timely manner to ensure adequacy of the actions from a regulatory point of view.
Applicants envisaging to include clinical studies should provide details of their clinical studies in the dedicated annex using the template provided in the submission system. See definition of clinical studies in the introduction to this work programme part.
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Expected effects and impacts
Expected results
- The scientific and clinical communities have an increased knowledge on viruses with epidemic potential and in particular a better understanding of different potential mechanisms of action for the development of broad-spectrum anti-viral therapeutics for these viruses.
- The scientific and clinical communities have access to novel approaches for the development of anti-viral therapies for emerging and re-emerging infections in the context of epidemic and pandemic preparedness.
- The scientific and clinical communities have access to experimental broad-spectrum anti-viral candidates against emerging or re-emerging viral infections for further clinical investigation.
- A diverse and robust pipeline of broad-spectrum anti-viral drug candidates is available for emerging and re-emerging viral infections, increasing therapeutic options for clinical deployment in case of an epidemic or pandemic.
Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Iceland (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), Morocco (المغرب), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна), United Kingdom
eligible entities
EU Body, Education and training institution, International organization, Natural Person, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Mandatory partnership
Yes
Project Partnership
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
- third countries associated to Horizon Europe - see list of particpating countries
Applications may be submitted by one or more legal entities, which may be established in a Member State, Associated Country or, in exceptional cases and if provided for in the specific call conditions, in another third country.
In recognition of the opening of the US National Institutes of Health’s programmes to European researchers, any legal entity established in the United States of America is eligible to receive Union funding.
Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.
A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
Specific cases:
- Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
- Associated partners — Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
- Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
- EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
- Joint Research Centre (‘JRC’)— Where provided for in the specific call conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text. After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.
- Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible.
Additional information
Topics
Relevance for EU Macro-Region
EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)
Additional Information
All proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funders & Tenders Portal electronic submission system (accessible via the topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.
Proposals must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents, e.g. plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results including communication activities, etc.
The application form will have two parts:
- Part A (to be filled in directly online) contains administrative information about the applicant organisations (future coordinator and beneficiaries and affiliated entities), the summarised budget for the proposal and call-specific questions;
- Part B (to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system) contains the technical description of the project.
Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system).
The limit for a full application (Part B) is 45 pages.
The award criteria are described in General Annex D. The following exceptions apply: The thresholds for each criterion will be 4 (Excellence), 4 (Impact) and 3 (Implementation). The cumulative threshold will be 12.
Call documents
HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 1, Destination 3HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 1, Destination 3(556kB)
Contact
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