GloPID-R is the only alliance of its kind to bring together 26 research funding organizations on a global scale to facilitate an effective research response within 48 hours of a significant outbreak of a new or remerging infectious disease with pandemic potential.
Since its inception in 2013, GloPID-R has mobilized to respond to infectious diseases such as the Zika virus, yellow fever, and the Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV).
The meeting’s goal will be to discuss the lessons learned from these outbreaks and use that information as the platform to decide on future activities.
Coordinate the efforts against the Zika virus
During the assembly, Line Matthiessen, GloPID-R Chair from the European Commission, presented on the findings from the “GloPID-R Zika Virus Research Workshop,” which took place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from November 30 – December 2, 2016.
This unprecedented Zika workshop assembled scientists, whose research was funded by GloPID-R members, to facilitate knowledge exchange and data sharing. Participants agreed that a new research workshop should be organized near the end of 2017 to evaluate the impact of funded projects and the effectiveness of coordination efforts.
Following this Zika workshop, the creation of a working group to bring together clinical trial networks was presented. This working group will be moderated by the European Commission and meet on a regular basis to identify areas of common interest.
Facilitate a prompt and coordinated response
As for the current working group on yellow fever, participants were asked to make a recommendation to either continue or wrap up existing discussions. For now, regarding this disease, it was agreed that the immediate focus should be on production increase of existing vaccines.
At the General Assembly in Seoul, the Response Plan of GloPID-R was presented and approved by the members. This plan lays out when and how GloPID-R will respond to an outbreak, and the conditions for escalating or de-escalating a response. The Response Plan’s goal is to facilitate a prompt and coordinated response by funders when an outbreak occurs.
Potential partnership with the JPIAMR
Finally, participants discussed potential links between GloPID-R and the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR). Although of different nature, the fights against AMR and emerging infectious diseases have many elements in common, such as data-sharing and clinical trials.
Also, as a first step, the next GloPID-R meeting, which will take place in Brussels, may be held back-to-back with the annual JPIAMR meeting to organize a combined JPIAMR-GloPID-R meeting and to facilitate joint GloPID-R─JPIAMR discussions.