European Autism Interventions - A Multicentre Study for Developing New Medications

Objective

Despite dramatic advances in molecular and imaging technologies, there are currently no effective pharmacological treatments for the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Major obstructions to this include a lack of aetiologically-driven or pathophysiologically-accurate animal models; an absence of tests that indicate efficacy; and reliance of clinical trials on DSM/ICD10 categories which provide a collection of biologically heterogeneous patients. Further, even if novel treatments are developed there is no EU platform to clinically test them. Our hypothesis is that a focus on cross-species endophenotypes, finding biologically-homogenous groups of patients, and developing a clinical research network will overcome the limitations in target identification, early triage and clinical trials. Hence, leading European institutions and three SMEs will partner with the EFPIA to: a) develop in vitro models, and animal models that carry confirmed genetic risks, and in these animals to focus on cross-species endophenotypes (e.g. cognitive function, electrophysiology) to facilitate new drug discovery; b) validate the use of sMRI and fMRI-based endophenotypes in genetically-selected healthy volunteers, infants at risk for ASD, and children and adults (including twins) with and without ASD, as early and surrogate markers for efficacy; and to combine this with PET approaches to provide guidance regarding optimal clinical trial design; and c) identify biomarkers that can be used to stratify patients within an umbrella DSM-diagnosis, thus allowing for targeted clinical trials, individualized treatment and back-translation of subgroup-specific biomarkers into preclinical drug discovery. To increase the chance of a breakthrough we will implement new analytical approaches (e.g. support vector machine learning algorithms) and will actively collaborate with patient groups and other international efforts (e.g. the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE)).

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

• medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy drug discovery
• natural sciences biological sciences neurobiology cognitive neuroscience
• medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs
• natural sciences computer and information sciences artificial intelligence machine learning

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-JTI - Specific Programme "Cooperation": Joint Technology Initiatives

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

• IMI-JU-03-2010-05 - Translational Endpoints In Autism

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

IMI-JU-03-2010
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

JTI-CP-IMI - Joint Technology Initiatives - Collaborative Project (IMI)

Coordinator

Participants (26)