An EU-funded project aims to identify and maximise the potential of novel vaccines to end the global tuberculosis epidemic. These could save lives, stem the spread of infection and shorten treatment for the often deadly, airborne disease.
For patients with rare genetic mutations of the debilitating disease cystic fibrosis, there are few options for effective treatment. EU-funded researchers are working to meet their needs, using new developments in personalised medicine to advance the testing of novel and promising drugs.
An EU- and industry-funded project has developed a mobile app enabling patients and healthcare professionals to more easily report suspected adverse drug reactions. It has also analysed social media to assess drug safety. Both initiatives have shown potential for strengthening the monitoring of medicines.
Pre-eclampsia is a potentially life-threatening condition that can develop in pregnant women. A number of factors are known to increase the risk, but the actual causes of this hypertensive disorder remain unclear. Researchers in Kazakhstan were involved in an EU-funded project that discovered an exciting lead: the baby’s genes also appear to play a role.
An EU- and industry-funded project has identified potential biomarkers that could indicate how likely a drug is to cause cancer at an earlier stage of testing than is currently possible, which could save drug companies time and money - and lead to safer drugs reaching patients faster.
An international group of EU-funded researchers has investigated the safety and efficacy of using the drug deferiprone to treat children with the blood disorder beta-thalassaemia major. The news is good.
EU-funded researchers have shown how nanoparticles can deliver drugs directly to the site of an infection. This preclinical research promises more effective treatments and the prospect of bypassing the threat of antimicrobial resistance.
Hundreds of millions of people each year are infected with Plasmodium vivax, the most widespread form of malaria worldwide. An EU-funded project is tackling the mosquito-borne parasite, leading cutting-edge research efforts to accelerate the development of effective vaccines.
EU-funded researchers are using the latest vaccine technologies and antigen discovery tools to develop a multi-stage, multi-antigen vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for the deadliest form of malaria.
A potential drawback of clinical trials of new drugs is that they do not always reflect how well these will work in the 'real world'. EU and industry-funded research brought together key stakeholders to help add more such evidence into the design of trials, increasing confidence in new medicines and helping to get them to patients more quickly.
