Vaccine Trial Platform
VACCELERATE
at a glance
TARGET
COVID-19 Clinical Trials
TIMELINE
28 January 2021 to 27 January 2024
COORDINATOR
University of Cologne
FUNDER
European Union
FUNDING
12 Mio Euro
SUMMARY
European Corona Vaccine Trial Accelerator Platform
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic creates an unprecedented burden worldwide. Vaccine-induced immunity is the only promising solution. There is continued need for phase 2 & 3 vaccine trials to reach long-term, large-scale immunity of the entire European population.
VACCELERATE will be the pan-European backbone accelerating phase 2 & 3 COVID-19 vaccine trials. The overall objective of VACCELERATE is to connect all European stakeholders involved in vaccine development to provide a pan-European platform for clinical trial design and conduct. VACCELERATE constitutes the rapid response single entry-point to stakeholders from public health authorities to vaccine developers, to address respective needs and kick-start specifically phase 2 & 3 vaccine trials.
VACCELERATE conducts capacity mapping of clinical trial and laboratory sites to identify suitable sites for individual phase 2 & 3 vaccine trials. Capacity building via training will increase quality in sites across Europe. Volunteer registries facilitate patient recruitment. Access to laboratory sites and a standardised set of assays essential for clinical phase 2 & 3 trials is provided. A harmonised European approach to vaccine trials is enabled by aligning educational standards, coordination of laboratory support and providing standardised assays and trial protocols. Harmonised data collection, open data sharing and pooling of data for stronger analysis enables data standardisation. VACCELERATE offers solutions for characteristic vaccine development issues during pandemics by closing gaps in public health knowledge and improving knowledge transfer.
VACCELERATE amalgamates the vast but scattered expertise across Europe into one network to deliver strategic scientific leadership and guidance on vaccine trials in Europe. Beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be an established pandemic preparedness network, ready to face emerging future pandemics, as well as a pivot in Europe's capacity to develop vaccines.
PARTNERS
University Hospital Cologne (Germany); Biomedical Research Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (Slovakia); Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto (CHUP) (Portugal); Collaborative Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Outcomes Research (CLEO) (Greece); European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (ECRIN) (France); European University Cyprus (Cyprus); European Vaccine Initiative (EVI) (Germany); Hacettepe University (Turquey); Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm)(France); Instituto de Salut Carlos III (Spain); Karolinska Institutet (Sweden); Region Stockholm, Karolinska University Hospital (KUH) (Sweden); Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade (MFUB) (Serbia); Ministry of Health (Israel); Medical University of Bialystok (UMB) (Poland); Medical University of Vienna (Austria); University College Dublin, National University of Ireland (Ireland); National University of Ireland Galway (Ireland); Region Hovedstaden (Denmark); University of Antwerp (Belgium); University of Bern (Switzerland); University of Bergen (Norway); University Medical Center Utrecht (Netherlands); University of Verona (Italy); Université de Paris (France); Vilnius University Hospital Santaros klinikos (Lithuania).
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101037867.