Funders

IMI

The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) is Europe’s largest public-private initiative aiming to improve health by speeding up the development of, and patient access to, innovative medicines, particularly in areas where there is an unmet medical or social need. IMI facilitates collaboration between the key players involved in healthcare research, including universities, the pharmaceutical and other industries, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), patient organisations, and medicines regulators. It is a partnership between the European Union (represented by the European Commission) and the European pharmaceutical industry (represented by EFPIA, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations). Through the IMI 2 programme, IMI has a budget of € 3.3 billion for the period 2014-2024. Half of this comes from the EU’s research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020. The other half comes from large companies, mostly from the pharmaceutical sector; these do not receive any EU funding, but contribute to the projects ‘in kind’, for example by donating their researchers’ time or providing access to research facilities or resources.

Within SOPHIA, the European Union and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), Type 1 Diabetes Exchange, JDRF, and Obesity Action Coalition invest approx. €16 mio over the next five years.

T1D Exchange

Unitio, Inc. (Unitio) is a nonprofit organization that unites those affected by disease with those committed to advancing better care and treatments in order to improve outcomes. The Organization’s flagship program, T1DExchange, functions as a research organization dedicated to accelerating therapies and improving care for people affected by type 1 diabetes. T1D Exchange actively supports discovery and innovation—particularly at its earliest stages. At the same time, the organization asserts that evidence gathered in the “real world” is necessary to help bridge the gap between discovery in research settings and impact in people’s lives. The T1D Exchange model uses cutting-edge research tools, methods, and programs to gather biological samples from people living with type 1 diabetes, as well as evidence from their real-world and clinical experiences. The goal is to link patient samples, data, and insight to all stage of research and development, advancing the development of therapies and better care for everyone affected by type 1 diabetes.

JDRF

JDRF is the leading global organization funding type 1 diabetes (T1D) research. The ongoing dedication to JDRF’s mission to accelerate life-changing breakthroughs to cure, prevent and treat T1D and its complications ensures that there will be a continuous stream of life-changing therapies moving from development through to the marketplace that lessen the impact of T1D. We want to keep people with T1D healthy and safe today until we reach our ultimate goal of a cure and universal prevention of T1D and turn Type One into Type None.

JDRF collaborates with a wide spectrum of partners at every stage of the drug and device delivery pipeline and is the only organization with the scientific resources, regulatory influence, and a strategic plan to deliver a world without T1D. JDRF’s influence and leadership extends beyond funding research. We strategically partner with industry, governments, foundations, academia, and clinicians, because curing T1D is a global coordinated effort with JDRF leading the effort.

Obesity Action Coalition

The Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) is a more than 66,000 member-strong United States based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to giving a voice to the individual affected by the disease of obesity and helping individuals along their journey toward better health through education, advocacy and support. OAC focuses are to raise awareness and improve access to the prevention and treatment of obesity, provide evidence-based education on obesity and its treatments, fight to eliminate weight bias and discrimination, elevate the conversation of weight and its impact on health and offer a community of support for the individual affected.