On April 10, 2018, the University of Bari hosted the EPTRI meeting “A New Research Infrastructure for the Development of New Paediatric Drugs.”

Representatives of the Italian institutions promoting EPTRI, along with project partners, participated in the event, which aimed to provide all attendees with a clearer understanding of the project’s tasks and goals and to illustrate the key elements of the new research infrastructure. The first part of the meeting focused on the global context surrounding EPTRI and the role of research infrastructures (RIs) in strengthening research outcomes to improve patient health. The second part of the meeting was dedicated to presenting the technical components of the infrastructure, with particular attention given to the operational plans of the five thematic platforms comprising EPTRI, as well as the importance of patient engagement.

ID-EPTRI (European Paediatric Translational Research Infrastructure) was a new complementary Research Infrastructure (RI) designed to bring together and network all available competences and technologies useful for enhancing paediatric research in medicines—from drug discovery and early development phases to clinical phases and therapeutic use.

Funded under the H2020-INFRADEV-01-2017 programme and officially launched in Rome in January 2018, EPTRI aimed to design the framework for the new RI by providing a Conceptual Design Report (CDR) that described the scientific and technical requirements and key components of the infrastructure.

The ID-EPTRI project was coordinated by the Consorzio per Valutazioni Biologiche e Farmacologiche, with the Gianni Benzi Foundation acting as a third party, and involved 26 partners from 19 EU and non-EU countries. These included existing RIs, major paediatric experts covering the proposal’s scientific topics, and international collaborators contributing prior experience and resources.

Download the meeting agenda.