The innovative medicines initiative (IMI): a shot in the arm for European diabetes research?

Excerpt

The academic community has been quite vocal in complaining about inadequate public funding for diabetes research in Europe [1], and rightly so! The intrinsic and relative lack of earmarked research funds (as compared with the USA) for this particular disease area is truly alarming [1], and our public authorities, both national and international, seem unwilling to rise to the challenge. But if we want our strident alarm calls to be seen as constructive criticism rather than complaints, we must be alert to new opportunities and support them if appropriate. While intended to address just a part of a greater problem, and with a relatively modest budget on the grand scale of things, the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI; for further information see: http://​www.​imi-europe.​org/​, last accessed in June 2007) may present us with just such an opportunity. …