The European Health Data and Evidence Network (EHDEN) and Lundbeck have begun formative stages of neuroscience research with the EHDEN network and potential partners, including other pharma companies.
Lundbeck joined the IMI EHDEN Consortium on 1st September 2022 and is now the first partner to join the neuroscience research programme.
“This partnership will contribute to the neuroscience ecosystem in Europe and support R&D activities. We also hope to be working soon with more collaborators.”
“Working in a high complexity field, such as with the human brain, it is critical to rely on accurate data-driven insights. As an organisation dedicated to restoring brain health, we are excited to be part of the neuroscience research programme supported by the EHDEN project’s sustainability pathway. This partnership will contribute to the neuroscience ecosystem in Europe and support R&D activities. We also hope to be working soon with more collaborators,” says Tarek Samad, Senior Vice President, Head of Research at Lundbeck.
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Focusing on areas from migraine to neurodegenerative diseases
As an Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) project, EHDEN will reach end-of-its project phase in April 2024. To ensure EHDEN’s achievements will continue benefiting the patients and its collaborators, also to support the continuous development of EHDEN’s ecosystem of Data Partners and standardised open source tools beyond 2024, a new not-for-profit (NFP) entity has been established in The Netherlands. As part of its sustainability pathway, EHDEN will be transitioning from the IMI phase to the NFP over the coming eighteen months. Part of the NFP’s strategy is to initiate non-competitive research collaboration with Data Partners, Academia, and Industry to address research needs in different therapeutic areas.
The first such programme will be in neuroscience, focusing on areas from migraine to neurodegenerative diseases, collaborating with the unique open science community and network that EHDEN has created across Europe. Neurological disorders are the leading cause of disability and the second leading cause of death worldwide, with an increasing burden of death and disability, especially in low- and middle-income countries. There is an urgent need for more research into neurological disorders from prevention through to treatment and care.
“The remarkable work of EHDEN has established a unique European health data landscape, with remarkable levels of standardisation for data and studies that may provide a better understanding of disease characteristics and consequences.”
“Headache disorders affect the quality of life for millions of people and reduce their participation and contribution to society. To be able to better support this community, we need to improve our understanding of individual patients and the disease population. The remarkable work of EHDEN has established a unique European health data landscape, with remarkable levels of standardisation for data and studies that may provide a better understanding of disease characteristics and consequences,” says Bjørn Sperling, Vice President of Clinical Development for the therapeutic areas of Migraine, Pain and neuroimmunology at Lundbeck.
A massive unmet need
Partners participating in the programme will be engaged in a public-private partnership, guiding, and shaping the direction of a substantive research programme with a relevant network of Data Partners. Critical to this partnership will be the emphasis on science, adding to the literature base, and informing developments in the therapeutic area. Ultimately, this partnership could contribute to the creation of an Observational Environment for Neuroscience in Europe, facilitating high quality, timely, real world evidence generation for better disease understanding and assessment of the value of different types of interventions, states Lundbeck.
“This is the start of a longer term collaboration to address that need with public and private partners working together with key experts to conduct open science studies.”
“There is a massive unmet need for new and effective therapeutics and better care across for neurological disorders from migraine to cancers, to neurodegeneration, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, which could be addressed with better understanding of these diseases in the real world. This is the start of a longer term collaboration to address that need with public and private partners working together with key experts to conduct open science studies,” says Professor Daniel Prieto-Alhambra, University of Oxford, and Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, and Research Coordinator, EHDEN.
Photo of Tarek Samad: Lundbeck
