Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe – Health 2023: PANVIPREP

Developing broad-spectrum antiviral drugs for pandemic preparedness (PANVIPREP)

LUMC PI: Prof. Eric Snijder, PhP
Leiden University Center for Infectious Diseases

• HORIZON-HLTH-2023-DISEASE-03-04 (Research and Innovation Action)
• EC contribution for total project: € 7.999.298
• EC contribution to LUMC: € 1.204.304
• Start date: 01 January 2024 – End date: 31 December 2027

Abstract:
Antiviral drugs will be key in the management of future virus outbreaks. For each virus family with epidemic/pandemic potential, stockpiles of potent drugs are needed that can be deployed when a new pathogen emerges. Such broader-acting drugs (targeting conserved viral functions) are needed as of “day one” of an outbreak, for treatment and prophylaxis (e.g. in HCW and frail patients). In combination with quarantine measures, such drugs will delay (global) spread, allowing time for vaccine-development. Since the 2003 SARS outbreak, PANVIPREP’s core partners have successfully collaborated in leading European antiviral drug research projects. This provides a solid scientific basis in combination with translational drug discovery expertise. The team includes virologists, biochemists, structural biologists, medicinal chemists and pharmacokinetics experts. Previously developed know-how and toolboxes will be a major asset to achieve immediate impact. PANVIPREP aims to greatly expand the antiviral portfolio and identify novel druggable targets of high-risk RNA viruses. Hits will be identified through (i) phenotypic antiviral screening of compound libraries (ii) structure-based drug design, (iii) in silico screening, supported by the latest machine-learning methods. We will deliver 25 to 50 high-quality, broad(er)-spectrum (pan-genus/pan-family) hit molecules/hit series. Two of these will be developed to the early lead stage, including proof of concept in animal infection models. Remaining hits will serve as chemical tool-compounds to explore mechanisms of action thereby identifying novel druggable targets in RNA virus replication. This in turn will accelerate target-based drug design efforts. The workflow will integrate best practices in antiviral drug discovery with a range of methodological innovations, including AI-based methods, thus renovating and accelerating the antiviral hit discovery pipeline future use and contributing to pandemic preparedness.

Horizon Europe – Health 2022: WORMVACS2.0

Innovations for vaccines against helminth infections (WORMVACS2.0)

LUMC PI: Prof. Ron Hokke, PhD
Leiden University Center for Infectious Diseases

• HORIZON-HLTH-2022-DISEASE-06-03-two-stage (Research and Innovation Action)
• EC contribution for total project: € 6.881.714
• EC contribution to LUMC: € 2.500.554
• Start date: 01 September 2023 – End date: 30 August 2028

Abstract: Infections with parasitic worms (helminths) continue to cause a massive global health burden. Yet, effective vaccines to enable control and elimination of helminth infections do not exist. Primary reasons for this are that target discovery approaches are not well developed, protective immune mechanisms are only partially clarified at best, production platforms tailored to specific helminth vaccine requirements are not available, and a pipeline for selecting and rapidly progressing pre-clinical and clinical vaccine candidates is generally lacking. Moreover, controlled human infection models are only now being developed and optimized for some of the most important human helminths. These models have not yet been widely implemented in vaccine development programs to date.
The objective of WORMVACS2.0 is to establish an effective pipeline to support helminth vaccine development focusing on schistosomes and hookworms, and ultimately the control and elimination of some of the world’s most devastating and persistent Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). We aim to achieve this through the development and application of an innovative approach leveraging controlled human infection models, novel platforms for helminth vaccine/vaccine antigen production, experimental animal models, and improved target discovery methodology applying state-of-the-art immunological profiling to identify correlates and signatures of protection. WORMVACS2.0 will advance scientific and clinical knowledge of host immunity in response to helminth infection, apply innovative and sustainable platform technologies tailored to the next generation of effective vaccines against helminth infections of global importance. The project will produce a diversified portfolio of hookworm and schistosome vaccine candidates ready for progressing to clinical testing and conduct a phase 1 clinical trial to advance an mRNA platform-based schistosomiasis vaccine.

Horizon Europe – European Innovation Council 2022: BREATH-SENSE

Miniaturized plasma emission spectroscopy-based breath analysis for unobtrusive at-home monitoring and prediction of COPD exacerbations.

LUMC PI: Jiska Aardoom, PhD
Dept. Public Health and Primary Care

• HORIZON-EIC-2022-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01
• EC contribution for total project: € 3.505.325
• EC contribution to LUMC: € 589.660
• Start date: 01-11-2023 – End date: 30-04-2027

Abstract:
Patients suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease (COPD) suffer from persistent airway obstruction causing shortness of breath and extreme fatigue. Patients are repeatedly hospitalized due to acute flare-ups known as exacerbations, which are largely responsible for the morbidity and mortality associated with COPD. Exacerbations are diagnosed based on symptoms only and diagnosis is often too late. There is an urgent need for a reliable technology for unobtrusive and continuous at-home monitoring of COPD patients to enable timely exacerbation prediction and treatment.

The Breath-Sense consortium aims to develop the first-ever hand-held breathalyzer for non-invasive detection of breath biomarkers. RespiQ has developed a breakthrough plasma emission spectroscopy-based breath analysis technology, and will collaborate with sensor development expert SINTEF, user-experience and co-creation expert NeLL and clinical COPD specialist KCL. The consortium will combine innovative technological advancements with human-centric user-experience research to develop and validate a transformative clinical workflow for at-home monitoring of COPD patients.

With this digital biomarker-based monitoring solution, patients and clinicians will benefit from reliable and timely prediction of exacerbations, leading to early treatment intervention and preventing up to 95% hospitalizations. The Breath-Sense workflow will deliver a paradigm shift in COPD management, from symptom-based delayed diagnosis towards preventative at-home monitoring prior to symptom worsening.

Ultimately, the breathalyzer technology is a platform technology that can be applicable for a wide range of respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases that could also be monitored better continuously at home such as asthma, lung cancer, and IBS, since novel biomarkers can be incorporated for different disease indications. As such, the Breath-Sense technology has the potential to improve the health of millions of people.

Read more: LUMC press release

Horizon Europe – Health 2022: SPIDeRR

Stratification of Patients using advanced Integrative modeling of Data Routinely acquired for diagnosing Rheumatic complaints.

LUMC PI: Rachel Knevel, PhD
Department of Rheumatology

• HORIZON-HLTH-2022-TOOL-12-01-two-stage (Research and Innovation Action)
• EC contribution for total project: €5.494.750
• EC contribution to LUMC: €1.240.300
• Start date: 01-05-2023 – End date: 30-04-2028

Abstract: 

Globally 1.71 billion people have musculoskeletal symptoms, the leading contributor to disability. Early disease stratification is important to ensure appropriate care (most suited healthcare provider and best treatment choice). Currently the patient journey to diagnosis and effective treatment is long and inefficient, resulting in persistent disease burden and economical loss. This is due to insufficiently understood relations disease causes and similarities in symptoms between diseases, insufficiently distinguishing tests, trial and error approach in initial treatment.

SPIDeRR aims to disentangle the real-life complexity of early diagnosis of rheumatic diseases by considering the complete web of factors influencing patients’ symptoms. SPIDeRR’s approach will go well beyond the state-of-the-art in the following ways:

• By identifying different disease groups, requiring different therapies, amongst patients with similar symptoms in contrast to the traditional approach aiming to only capture one disease early.
• By integrating all relevant data dimensions from every healthcare level (primary and secondary care and patients seeking advice online).
• By translating and applying machine learning techniques from the “omics” field to clinical patient data, which will result in new pipelines for translational data science

SPIDERR will deliver three clinical models

• a symptom checker for patients
• a decision support tool for (primary) care providers providing guiding additional examination and referral decisions
• a patient-patient similarity network to optimise diagnostic groups in rheumatology and support treatment decision

To achieve this we additionally deliver solutions for data integration and shared analyses though GDPR compliant digital research environment and federated learning pipelines.

Finally we will test the acceptability of the models through stakeholders studies and provide an implementation scene tailored to current healthcare in Europe.

Horizon Europe – Health 2022: FRESHAIR4LIFE

Implementation research on the tailored, multidisciplinary NCD prevention package FRESHAIR4LIFE: Targeting tobacco and air pollution exposure in mid- to late adolescents in disadvantaged populations.

LUMC PI: Rianne van der Kleij, PhD
Department of Public Health and Primary Care

• Horizon Europe call: HORIZON-HLTH-2022-DISEASE-07-03 (Research and Innovation Action)
• EC contribution for total project: €2.149.813
• EC contribution to LUMC: €407.000
• Start date: 01-01-2023 – End date: 31-12-2026

Abstract:

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are responsible for 74 % of all deaths worldwide. We know how to mitigate specific NCD risk factors and prevent NCDs. However, we have failed to apply this knowledge in practice, especially in disadvantaged populations experiencing a disproportionally high NCD burden. The EU-funded FRESHAIR4LIFE project will bridge this translational gap by acquiring knowledge, resources and capacity to optimise the implementation of multi-level, evidence-based tobacco and air pollution exposure prevention packages in disadvantaged populations. The project targets adolescents in five countries: Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Romania and Uganda. All countries face a high NCD burden, but their contexts differ significantly. These differences will lead to gaining implementation knowledge and resources that can be extrapolated to settings worldwide.

EU4Health programme - 2021: PCM4EU

Personalised Cancer Medicine for all EU citizens

LUMC PI: Prof. Hans Gelderblom, PhD
Department of Medical Oncology

• EU4Health call: EU4H-2021-PJ-15 (Action grant)
• EC contribution for total project: €2.943.458
• EC contribution to LUMC: €568.761
• Start date: 01-01-2023 - End date: 31-12-2024

Abstract:

Precision Cancer Medicine for Europe (PCM4EU) is a Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan project funded under the EU4Health program with partners from 15 countries across Europe. PCM4EU's goal is to facilitate the implementation of molecular cancer diagnostics for precision oncology such as DRUP-like clinical trials. The project contains six work packages (WPs): WP2 is about mapping and facilitating use of molecular cancer diagnostics and WP3 is about precision oncology and promoting and help starting more national DRUP-like clinical trials in European countries. WP4 is focusing on implementing precision oncology and standards for use in diagnostics and molecular tumour boards (MTBs) in European countries. Furthermore, WP5 is about equitable and cross-border access whereas WP6 is focusing on training of the next generation of oncologists. PCM4EU has also incorporated a patient engagement strategy to ensure access to molecular-based clinical trials and will build a data aggregation platform.

Horizon Europe – HEALTH 2021: Label2Enable

Adopting ISO 82304-2 and a trusted EU mHealth label for a single market that enables patients, citizens, health professionals, systems, and authorities to benefit from a wide range of useful apps. (Label2Enable).

LUMC PI: Petra Hoogendoorn
Department of Public Health and Primary Care / National eHealth Living Lab (NeLL)

• Horizon Europe call: HORIZON-HLTH-2021-IND-07-03 (Coordination and Support Action)
• EC contribution to total project: €1.999.957
• EC contribution to LUMC: €710.957
• Start date: 01-05-2022 – End date: 30-04-2024

Abstract:

There is a growing recognition that health and wellness apps need to play a much stronger role in health care systems, self-care and health prevention than they do today. However, health care systems, health professionals, patients and citizens lack means to adequately assess the quality and reliability of the many apps to choose from, for every purpose, in each app store. Suppliers experience the varying national approval processes as confusing and unclear as to what is expected and the depth of evidence that is required by each approval body. We intend to break through the impasse by leveraging the golden opportunity of the publication in July 2021 of the ISO 82304?2 Technical Specification (TS) and its health app quality label. Work is now needed to turn this globally endorsed quality assessment and health app quality label into the EU assessment and EU mHealth label, embed it within the approval and reimbursement processes of European countries and foster cross-country alignment of these approval processes. The objective of Label2Enable is threefold: achieve trust, use and adoption. We will pursue: 1. trust with an EU certification scheme that results in consistent compliant inclusive app assessments 2. use with: - a more detailed health app quality report that enables health professionals to recommend apps and insurers to speed up decisions on reimbursements - supporting communication that enables all patients, citizens and carers to use the label in considering health apps - social experimentation to promote app stores, app libraries and other routinely used trusted sources that (seek to) offer health apps to effectively publish the label alongside them 3. adoption of the TS and cross-country recognition with pilots, use stories, advocacy, mass communication and targeted multi-stakeholder engagement, affordable app assessments and a sustainable non-profit entity that will maintain the scheme, accredit app assessors and promote the TS after the project.

Horizon Europe – HEALTH 2021: SERENITY

Towards cancer patient empowerment for optimal use of antithrombotic therapy at the end of life (SERENITY)

LUMC PI: Prof. Erik Klok, PhD
Department of Internal Medicine – division of Thrombosis and Haemostasis

• Horizon Europe call: HORIZON-HLTH-2021-DISEASE-04-01 (Research and Innovation Action)
• EC contribution to total project: €4.483.532
• EC contribution to LUMC: €1.726.107
• Start date: 01-10-2022 – End date: 30-09-2027

Abstract: 

Antithrombotic therapy (ATT) has negligible positive effects on the wellbeing of terminal cancer patients. However, ATT is often continued until death, resulting in bleeding and increasing disease burden and healthcare cost. The EU-funded SERENITY project will develop an information-driven, web based shared decision support tool (SDST) to facilitate strategy regarding the use of ATT in cancer patients at the end of life. The project’s comprehensive approach will combine reviews, flash mob research, European epidemiologic studies, and qualitative interviews. The results will be used in a Delphi process to reach a consensus on the optimal SDST design as patient-specific and adapted to disease related and socioeconomic factors.