Kick Off Meeting: Phase One Discussions
25th June 2009
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Executive Summary
The principal investigators (or their representatives) from 7 of the institutions involved in CRIMALDDI met for the first time on 25 June 2009. The University of Cape Town and of Buea were added as members at this meeting and will attend future meetings.
Key Deliverables:
The meeting agreed that the key deliverables of the project would be:-
- Prioritised roadmap for antimalarial drug discovery;
- 5-year Action Plan to deliver on the roadmap, with clearly defined priorities, assigned actions, and timetable to complete key stages;
- Communication of the roadmap and action plan to the wider malaria community.
The proposals of the consortium will be designed both to define what are the properties of new drugs that are “fit for purpose” in the drive to control, eliminate, and ultimately eradicate malaria, as well as the platform technologies needed to support this R&D effort. The project’ will run until the end of January 2011.
These deliverables are to be aligned with the emerging plans to eliminate and ultimately eradicate malaria, especially the RBM Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP). It is intended that the CRIMALDDI deliverables will play a key role in the development of the malaria R&D agenda in Europe.
Project Scope:
The meeting agreed that the scope of the project will focus on the action plan and roadmap to cover the basic R&D (disease & platform technologies) and drug discovery stages of the overall drug R&D process:-
The CRIMALDDI Project is designed to be forward looking and to focus on new programmes & projects where the recommendations could influence decisions on future programme funding. It was therefore agreed not to look at projects that are underway and have already reached the drug development stage – broadly the pre-clinical and clinical trial stages of a drug’s development.
Modus Operandi:
The team agreed that the key deliverables would be developed primarily through face-to-face meetings of the Consortium members (at least once every six months). Further analysis would take place in between meetings and consultations conducted remotely. At the appropriate time, smaller expert working groups might be convened (under the leadership of a Management Committee member) to take a more in-depth look at particular elements of the evolving action plan.
The evolving findings of the project would be periodically subject to review by an Expert Advisory Group (EAG). The EAG members would be drawn from the wider malaria community. The work of the CRIMALDDI Consortium would also be subject to wider scrutiny and input through a dedicated website, periodic scientific publications, and presentations at scientific conferences. The Consortium members will place particular attention at their meetings to the development and monitoring of an effective communications plan to support the project.
Gap Analysis:
A major part of the first meeting was taken up by developing a gap analysis between the work being undertaken around the world on antimalarial drug discovery & disease R&D and the work needed to meet the goals of the GMAP. This analysis focused on the two main stages in the GMAP process – Control & Elimination. It also focused on the priority themes for malaria control & elimination:-
P falciparum |
Malaria in pregnancy |
P vivax |
Intermittent presumptive treatment |
Other Plasmodium spp. |
Access & sharing of data |
Severe malaria |
Enabling technologies & platforms |
Further work on this gap analysis and on prioritising the work needed to fill the gaps would be carried out. At the next meeting of the Consortium (set for October 2009), the priority areas would be agreed and a workplan to investigate these in-depth during 2010 would be agreed. A summary of this analysis would be shared with the wider community through the dedicated CRIMALDDI website.