Other News

ECNP Networks and Thematic Working Groups (TWGs)

On 31 January 2019 , the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorisation for the medicinal product Ajovy©, intended for prophylaxis of migraine. The applicant for this medicinal product is Teva GmbH. The active substance is fremanezumab which is an antibody that works by binding to calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). It is classified as an analgesic.

On 21 March (Madrid, Spain), the new Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) coordination and support action entitled “Efficiently Networking European Neurodegeneration Research” (NEURONET) held its kick-off meeting.

The 2019 Congress of the Academy for Multidisciplinary Neurotraumatology took place between April 11-12 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, organized by the Foundation of the Society for the Study of Neuroprotection and Neuroplasticity and its partners.

The BioMed Alliance has provided feedback to the public consultation on Plan S, the initiative of the European Commission, Research Funding Organisations and Science Europe to promote open access publishing.

Sharing #LifeGoals has become a popular trend on social media. A campaign from the European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA) is putting a new spin on the trend by instead seeing patient advocates and supporters share their #BrainLifeGoals.

On Tuesday, April 9, 2019, Active Citizenship Network (ACN) celebrated the 13th European Patients’ Rights Day (EPRD).

Fighting Discrimination at Work was the theme for the latest meeting of EFNA’s MEP Interest Group on Brain Mind and Pain, which took place in the European Parliament on March 6th. It was opened by Dutch MEP, Jeroen Lenaers who reminded participants that the EC President, Jean-Claude Junker, said that Europe should not just have a financial AAA rank, but also a social one.

The European Brain Council launches its Election Manifesto for the 2019 European elections and calls on Members of the European Parliament to:

The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union are currently conducting their negotiations on Horizon 2020’s successor, the Horizon Europe EU research programme. The European Commission had proposed a budget of €94.1 billion while the European Parliament seeks €120 billion. The Council aims to allocate only €91 billion. The final budget will not be settled for another few months, and at the moment the negotiators are working towards an agreement on the content of the programme.

The Swiss Young Sleep Wake Chronobiology Network (SYSWCN) was founded in 2016, as part of the Swiss Society for Sleep Research, Sleep Medicine, and Chronobiology (SSSSC). The SYSWCN is very interdisciplinary organised and aims to connect young researchers and clinicians within Switzerland independent of their subfield, background, or clinical speciality

BioMed Alliance provides feedback to Plan S

The EBRA project is an EU project coordinated by the European Brain Council (EBC), which launched on 1 November 2018. EBRA was designed to respond to the Horizon 2020 call, SC1-HCO-10-2018, entitled “Coordinating European brain research and developing global initiatives” and will create a catalysing initiative for brain research stakeholders (researchers, clinicians, patients, governments, funders and public institutions) to streamline and better co-ordinate brain research across Europe while fostering global initiatives.

EMA has published a booklet describing the journey of a medicine for human use authorised through EMA, from initial research to discussions on patient access to medicines across the EU. It can be found here.

Around 9.1 million people in Europe have dementia and these numbers are expected to increase to 14 million people by 2040, due to the ageing of European societies. With no disease-modifying treatment currently available and varied access to diagnosis, treatment and high quality care across Member States, EU institutions must show leadership by making dementia a priority in the fields of health, research and innovation, and social affairs.