With the mapping of the human genome, biotechnology is of increasing importance for development of new and targeted medicines and will impact future medical practice. This calls for an optimising of the current medicines R&D process and a re-thinking of the process. It is for this reason that the Section on Medicines Development has recently been established. This Section covers all aspects of Medicines Development (which today all will involve biotech in one way or other) as well as all processes within the R&D cycle from idea through research, applied research, preclinical, clinical, regulatory and post-marketing follow-up.

The new EFB Section on Medicines Development will, among its most important goals, provide a platform for a new concept called New Safe Medicines Faster (NSMF). NSMF is a visionary initiative aimed at improvement of drug development and approval in Europe by cooperation between public and private institutions. NSMF follows two tracks:

Streamlining:
Activities to optimise and reengineer the current drug research & development processes utilising contemporary scientific knowledge by removing bottlenecks and developing new tools.

Fresh approach:
To re-evaluate the entire drug development process and create a new efficient flow of knowledge generation and management without compromising safety based on recent scientific and technological advances including genome research.

NSMF enjoys strong support from EC DG Research as well as from EUREKA. A consortium of nearly 240 interested stakeholders representing universities, hospitals, medicines agencies, pharmaceutical companies, and SMEs from most countries in Europe is interested in engaging in this major and strategic initiative. NSMF webpage: www.nsmf.org provides information about NSMF including an overview of NSMF, reports from workshops, and NSMF relevant events and activities.

NSMF may become the first example of coordination between EUREKA and the EC Framework Programmes and is supported by senior officials at the EC and EUREKA. With the continuing encouragement of the EC, NSMF is now entering the next phase in its exciting development and would be poised to provide high-tech pharmaceutical and biotech SMEs, which have yet to experience the complete life cycle of a medicine, the possibility to interact in a much needed knowledge sharing environment, a goal consistent with EFB objectives. This will be facilitated by the fact that a call for proposals under FP6 consistent with the objectives of NSMF already has been issued and that more are expected to follow. Within only 1 month, 35 ideas for NSMF projects have already been proposed by members of the NSMF consortium. Furthermore, the coordinative efforts of the new section will link directly to the goal from the European Commission to reverse the fragmentation of European research.

For information about the activities of this Section please visit the homepage or contact the Section Chairman:

Dr. Jorgen Dirach, MD, MBA, MFPM (Chairman)
Novo Nordisk A/S, Corporate Research Affairs
Novo Alle 1
DK-2880 Bagsvaerd, DK
Phone +45 4442 3355
Fax +45 4442 1286
E-mail: jdi@novonordisk.com

-NSMF HOMEPAGE-

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