EDCTP seeking Proposals for Innovative approaches to enhance Poverty-related Diseases Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

Deadline: 13 August 2020

The European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) has announced a call for proposals for Innovative approaches to enhance poverty-related diseases research in Sub-saharan Africa.

The purpose of this call for proposals is to fund a number of small- to medium-scale clinical trials and/or clinical research studies that can deliver proof-of-concept or validation of smart, highly innovative technologies or concepts to prevent, treat or diagnose PRDs in Sub-saharan Africa. The call is strictly aimed at supporting novel innovations, and therefore excludes concepts and technologies that have previously been commercialised, rolled out, tested in large trials, or are already in routine use in healthcare settings. The proposed technologies must have the potential to:

Provide pilot data to advance the testing of new technologies in future large-scale studies
Generate results to inform the design of larger-scale studies
Accelerate the development of new, low-cost, easy-to-implement solutions to address barriers to progress
Strengthen research capacity of institutions to introduce and implement new technologies
Increase collaboration with (development) partners, including increasing leverage of funding
Contribute to creating solutions for improved development or delivery of medical interventions for vulnerable populations in low resource settings.

Proposals may address any disease or group of diseases within the scope of EDCTP. Proposals should include one (or more) small- to medium-scale studies in sub-Saharan Africa. Proposals that combine medical and pharmaceutical technologies with other scientific areas such as mobile technologies and digital technologies (mHealth and eHealth), big data processing, and other emerging technologies are particularly encouraged, as are proposals involving small- or medium-sized enterprises. Applications must describe how the proposed research will inform future trials or implementation.

Due to the extraordinary global crisis of COVID-19 that is also affecting African countries, this topic should also be considered by applicants.

Expected Impact

Projects funded under this call for proposals are expected to:

Accelerate the development of new or improved clinical interventions, or enhance the utility of existing interventions, in order to contribute towards the reduction of the burden of PRDs in Sub-saharan Africa.
Contribute to the achievement of SDG3 ‘Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’.
Contribute to increased uptake and implementation of innovative technologies in research and clinical practice in Sub-saharan Africa.

Funding Information

The call budget is EUR 23.4 million.
The funding level is 100% of eligible costs.

Duration

The action should start no later than 1 October 2021 and must be completed before the end of 2024.

Eligibility Criteria

A proposal/application will only be considered eligible if:

Its content corresponds, wholly or in part, to the topic/contest description for which it is submitted
It complies with the eligibility conditions for participation set out below, depending on the type of action:
- At least three legal entities. Two of the legal entities shall be established in two different Participating States (European Partner States) and one of the legal entities must be established in a Sub-saharan African country. All three legal entities must be independent of each other.
- ‘Sole participants’ formed by several legal entities (e.g. European Research Infrastructure Consortia, European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation, central purchasing bodies) are eligible if the above-mentioned minimum conditions are satisfied by the legal entities forming together the sole participant.

Evaluation Criteria

The following aspects are considered under the evaluation criteria:

Excellence
- Fit with the scope and objectives of the EDCTP programme, the EDCTP Association strategic research agenda and the call topic description.
- Importance, relevance/pertinence, and clarity of the objectives.
- Soundness of the concept and credibility of the proposed approach/methodology.
- Importance of the question being addressed and the rationale/need for the proposed clinical trial(s) or research study now.
- Excellence and appropriateness of the clinical trial design, including the proposed location(s) of the trial.
- Extent that the proposed trial will advance the field. In particular, how it differs from or complements any relevant planned, ongoing or recently completed trials internationally.
- Appropriate consideration of interdisciplinary approaches, and where relevant, use of stakeholder knowledge and gender dimension in research and innovation content.
Impact
- Call-specific aspects as listed under ‘expected impact’ in each individual call.
- The extent to which the outputs of the proposed work would contribute, at the European, African and/or International level, to each of the expected impacts listed in the work plan under the relevant topic.
- Likelihood to result in major advances in the field with potential benefit of the research to the affected populations.
- Advancing the clinical development of new and improved products.
- Generalisability of the trial/study results beyond the immediate research setting in a way that will maximise the impact of the results.
- Contribution to improved disease management and prevention through changes in policy and practice, with the ultimate goal of improving public health.
- Contribution to strengthening the capacity in Sub-saharan Africa to conduct clinical trials.
- Effectiveness and quality of the proposed measures to exploit and disseminate the project results (including management of IPR), to communicate the project activities to different target audiences, and to manage research data.
Quality and efficiency of the implementation
- Quality and effectiveness of the work plan, including extent to which the resources assigned to work packages are in line with their objectives and deliverables.
- Appropriateness of the management structures and procedures, including risk and innovation management, and how responsibilities for research data quality and sharing, and security will be met.
- Complementarity of the participants within the consortium, and the extent to which the consortium as whole brings together the necessary expertise.
- Appropriateness of the allocation of tasks and resources, ensuring that all participants have a valid role and adequate resources in the project to fulfil that role.
- Feasibility and appropriateness of the methods and project management to achieve the objectives within the timeframe of the grant.
- Compliance with national and international standards of research, Good Clinical Practice, ethics, and safety related issues.
- Participants have the operational capacity, to carry out the proposed work, based on the competence and experience of the individual participant(s).
- Competence of the participants and their investigators in conducting trials according to international standards of Good Clinical Practice (ICH-GCP).
- Involvement of Sub-saharan African researchers in the scientific leadership of the clinical trial.
- Arrangements and plans to take forward clinical development of the products under evaluation (where applicable).