European Clinical Research Alliance on Infectious Diseases (ECRAID) - Business Plan

ended

Infectious diseases (ID) pose a continuous and serious threat to global health and economies. Reducing the impact of emerging infectious diseases (EID) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) requires long-term, sustainable, international efforts. The European consortia COMBACTE and PREPARE have the joint ambition to establish a coordinated, permanent, pan-European infrastructure for clinical research on ID (ECRAID). The mission of ECRAID is to reduce the impact of ID on individual and population health by generating rigorous evidence to improve the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of IDs, and to better respond to ID threats. In ECRAID-Plan the coordinators and co-coordinators of PREPARE and COMBACTE, together with the (co-)coordinators of 12 other highly complementary networks and infrastructures, will develop a detailed Business Plan for ECRAID, which will serve: (i) as the guiding document in the implementation of ECRAID, (ii) to inform external stakeholders (network partners, industry, funders, policy makers, regulators, users) about ECRAID and (iii) to get commitment for sufficient start-up funding to commence operations in ECRAID, allowing for a smooth transition of activities from the current funding periods of PREPARE and COMBACTE. ECRAID-Plan will be completed within 24 months, involving extensive consultation of a multisectoral stakeholder platform. ECRAID-Plan will focus on the development of the key components of the business plan, including (i) an internal analysis of strengths and weaknesses, (ii) an external analysis of relevant stakeholders and their needs, developments in the scientific, policy and other domains and opportunities and threats, (iii) the service offering and business model, (iv) operational processes and policies, (v) governance structure and (vi) an investment plan and operational budget. Cross-cutting themes include reconciliation of AMR and EID research, data sharing and interoperabilty of networks.