IMI to be adopted by 27 EU states

The European Commission and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations are expected to enter into a strategic alliance to accelerate the discovery and development of innovative drugs. On December 20, a ceremony is scheduled to mark the signature by the 27 European Union member states of the Innovative Medicines Initiative. The EFPIA described the IMI as the "first pan-European public-private partnership to fund research in the health sector." The program has a budget of 2.0 billion euros ($2.94 billion) over a seven-year period, with the goal of giving a boost to the EU's competitiveness in biomedical innovation, through this fundamentally new approach.

The IMI is one of four Joint Technology Initiatives to be adopted as a new form of partnership between publicly and privately-funded organizations. The JTIs promote industry-driven research and European leadership in strategic scientific and technological fields.