REspiratory Syncytial virus Consortium in EUrope - Sofia ref.: 116019

Project Information

RESCEU

Grant agreement ID: 116019

DOI

10.3030/116019

Project closed

EC signature date 14 December 2016

Start date 1 January 2017

End date 30 September 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Health, demographic change and well-being

Total cost

€ 25 453 316,06

EU contribution

€ 14 498 125,00

Coordinated by

THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 6 - RESCEU (REspiratory Syncytial virus Consortium in EUrope - Sofia ref.: 116019)

Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2022-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is the most commonly identified pathogen in children with acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) presenting as pneumonia or bronchiolitis. It causes severe disease in the very young, elderly and in high risk groups like those with congenital heart disease, congenital lung disease, immunosuppression etc. RESCEU’s aim is to integrate and exploit existing knowledge and data to provide greater insights into the impact of RSV on health systems and societies throughout Europe, and to engage stakeholders to improve strategic planning and decision-making. It also seeks to access existing clinically annotated biological specimens from prospective studies and to supplement this with bespoke clinical studies to create a powerful new bio-repository for future research. The collaboration within the Consortium has been very productive during these last five years of the project and has progressed according to the plan.

At completion, RESCEU has achieved the majority of the expected impacts described in Annex I to the Grant Agremment. RESCEU outputs will provide sustainable long-term impact on RSV disease burden and thus make a significant contribution to improving health and wellbeing in Europe. RESCEU will form the platform for upcoming future actions on RSV and even other pathogens which are identified as a priority for action in Europe

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Since the beginning of the project, RESCEU has generated and built on a stellar publication record and disseminated their resources to the public which are openly available. These include national and regional level estimates for RSV disease burden for both in young children and adults; cost effectiveness analysis for RSV immunisation products (vaccines and monoclonals) in young children exploring a range of scenarios. Amongst its results, RESCEU has published the revised RSV global disease burden estimates in young children; the first prospectively generated multicountry/multicentre estimates of RSV disease burden in healthy term infants in Europe; RSV associated burden on hospital admissions and bed days in children aged <5 years in Europe; age-specific estimates of RSV associated hospitalisations in 6 European countries; economic burden and health-related quality of life due to RSV in community dwelling older adults in EU; cost effectiveness analyses comparing RSV maternal vaccination with monoclonal antibody immunisation in Norway. Also, two EU-wide RSV surveillance meetings (in collaboration with ECDC) were held in 2019 and 2021. ECDC have also used the disease burden estimates generated by RESCEU to alert member states on RSV associated burden on healthcare systems for 2022-23 winter (https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/rsv-virus-expected-add-pressure-hospitals-many-eueea-countries-season).”


Overall, these resources include 57 peer reviewed publications which are freely accessible and are available on the RESCEU website (http://resc-eu.org/). Two supplements in the Journal of Infectious Disease (JID) were published- the first included 18 articles resulting from the RESCEU deliverables and the second included 17 articles. These are available on RESCEU website under “Publications” section. The RESCEU disease burden data and cost-effectiveness analyses are being used by the National Immunisation Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) to inform decisions for introduction of RSV immunisation products (vaccines and monoclonals) in young children and elderly during winter 2023/24 and beyond. RESCEU has also increased its stakeholder engagement through its continuous collaboration with WHO, ECDC and European Public Health agencies and has developed 2 sets of recommendations on RSV surveillance in Europe, the latter being focused on RSV surveillance as part of integrated respiratory viral surveillance. Together with the Patient Advisory Board it has increased RSV awareness to the public through a vastly successful RSV Awareness Campaign through social as well as mainstream media. The RSV Patient Network has also reinforced its presence on social media and regularly shares news and interesting updates in Twitter; Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram @RSVPatientNetwork.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

RESCEU outputs will provide sustainable long-term impact on RSV disease burden and thus make a significant contribution to improving health and wellbeing in Europe. RESCEU will form the platform for upcoming future actions on RSV and even other pathogens which are identified as a priority for action in Europe.

RESCEU´s national and regional level estimates for RSV disease burden in children and adults, and cost effectiveness analysis for RSV immunisation products (vaccines and monoclonals) in young children in a range of scenarios are currently being used by NITAGs to inform the decisions for the introduction of novel RSV vaccines/monoclonals in young children and RSV vaccines in older adults in winter 2023/24 and beyond. The RSV burden data generated by RESCEU will serve as a baseline to help assess future vaccine effectiveness in the next 3 to 5 years. RESCEU have developed two sets of recommendations on RSV surveillance strategies in Europe based on EU wide consultations in 2019 and 2021 and these are now being used by WHO and ECDC to develop recommendations for integrated surveillance for key respiratory viruses (e.g. GISRS plus) that will include influenza, SARS CoV 2 and RSV. RESCEU partners have worked with the WHO to develop and operationalise RSV surveillance pilot in 25 countries that are likely to be early adopters of an RSV vaccine. Also, in August 2022, following the publication of the ECDC/WHO operational considerations for integrated surveillance of respiratory viruses and the imminent approval of RSV vaccines, the ECDC has recommended to the European Commission that RSV be included within the list of notifiable diseases for Europe. This is an important achievement and makes the case for RSV surveillance in EuropeAslo

The rich data and biobank generated by RESCEU have not only enabled us to address the research questions laid out at beginning of the project, A but also train next generation of researchers in the beneficiary countries. These data and biobank will continue to be utilised to answer research questions in the successor PROMISE project and are also likely to be used by the wider scientific community to answer research questions beyond those initially proposed in the Grant Agreement. The biomarkers identified within RESCEU WP5 have the potential to be used in clinical as well as research settings for vaccine or therapeutic clinical trials. These biomarkers would need to be validated in future studies. The RESCEU biobank samples and RESCEU data are being archived and will be made available (outwith the consortium) upon request after the embargo period is over. In collaboration with clinical societies as well as national public health institutes, we have summarised the RSV prevention and treatment guidelines in EU countries and these have been published in JID supplement on RSV. Through engagement with scientific community, general public, patients and policy makers, RESCEU partners have significantly raise awareness of RSV burden and advocated the need for introduction of novel immunisations and antivirals both in Europe and worldwide at the earliest. The clinical study sites in RESCEU are now part of several trial networks for respiratory pathogens.

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