The call #AIFA 123 for independent drug research was published today in the Official Journal (General Series No. 28 of the 05 / 2019). The announcement was approved by the Agency's Board of Directors last 2018 April and provides for the allocation of 19 million euros to finance research projects conducted within the following thematic areas identified by the Agency:
- Rare diseases
- Comparative controlled clinical studies
- Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR-T cells)
“AIFA considers support for independent research an investment for the acquisition of knowledge on the efficacy, safety and appropriateness of use of drugs, especially in areas not yet or not sufficiently explored by profit research. - says the Director General, Luca Li Bassi - For this reason, in line with the guidelines of the new pharmaceutical governance, the AIFA 2018 call aims to generate evidence with concrete repercussions on patients and on the National Health Service on some issues considered priority by the Agency , such as rare diseases, comparative studies of efficacy and safety between drugs for pathologies of high epidemiological-clinical and welfare relevance and the new advanced CAR-T therapies ".
The study proposals must be referred exclusively to one of the thematic areas listed in the notice as the main area of the research. Presentation of clinical interventional studies, observational studies and meta-analysis is permitted.
The maximum amount that can be funded for each project is 1,5 million for interventional studies, 500 thousand for observational studies and 75 thousand for meta-analyzes.
Applications, strictly in English, must be sent exclusively online via the system accessible at the link http://aifa.cbim.it/ no later than 18.00 hours of 30 July 2019.
For requests relating to the call for applications and the procedures for submitting applications, two addresses are available for topics of a scientific-regulatory or technical nature, respectively:
- Regulatory and scientific support: Italian Drug Agency
Tel. 0039 06 5978 4225; 0039 06 59784430 (Monday to Friday 10:00 - 16:00) e-mail: AIFAresearch2018@aifa.gov.it
- Technical support: Consortium of Bioengineering and Medical Informatics (CBIM)
Tel. 0039 0382 528759 (Monday to Friday 9:00 - 18:00) e-mail: aifa@cbim.it
The text of the AIFA 2018 Call with its annexes and the guidelines for submitting applications are available on the following page: http://www.aifa.gov.it/node/24305/