From crisis to resilience: Ten years of european research programmes to prepare europe for the next pandemic

FROM CRISIS TO RESILIENCE: TEN YEARS OF EUROPEAN RESEARCH PROGRAMMES TO PREPARE EUROPE FOR THE NEXT PANDEMIC

• Since 2020, in direct response to the COVID-19 crisis, the EU-RESPONSE (2020-2026) and subsequently the PROACT EU-Response (2025-2030) projects have been designed to successfully establish a major European clinical research network to combat pandemics and to improve preparedness.
• Using innovative platform-based adaptive clinical trial methodologies, these two projects are taking new approaches to simultaneously study different therapeutic options for the treatment of viral threats of pandemic potential.
• Beyond the clinical aspect, PROACT EU-Response goes further, with the involvement of social sciences experts together with civil society and community organisations.
• From reactive to proactive measures, PROACT EU-Response thus aims to transform lessons learned from studies carried out on an emergency basis into a sustainable, ready-to-activate system for future health emergencies.

EU-RESPONSE, meeting the COVID-19 crisis through coordinated research

The rapid emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic exposed deep structural weaknesses in European clinical research. In the absence of shared infrastructure, trials were launched with considerable delays.

To address these challenges, the EU-RESPONSE project (2020-2026) developed two broad European adaptive platform trials:

• The European expansion of the DisCoVeRy study:

A phase III, multi-arm adaptive repurposing trial, evaluating the safety and efficacy of repurposing medication in hospitalised adult patients with COVID-19.

• The creation of EU-SolidAct platform:

A Phase II and Phase III adaptive trial infrastructure designed for COVID-19 and emerging infectious diseases, built to be rapidly deployable.

Theses successful examples of adaptive platform trials in the context of COVID-19 outbreak research showed how flexible and adaptive the research could be. This methodology allows multiple therapeutic candidates to be evaluated simultaneously within a master protocol.

Each participant thus contributes to answering several research questions at once — dramatically accelerating evidence generation in emergency settings.

PROACT EU-Response, getting ahead of the next crisis

Launched in 2025 and running for five years, PROACT EU-Response extends and scales the infrastructure built by EU-RESPONSE, with one overarching goal: to stop waiting for a pandemic to organise the clinical response — and start building it now.

PROACT EU-Response therefore stands for the direct continuation of EU-RESPONSE project, ensuring the long-term sustainability and extension of a clinical network set up as part of EU-RESPONSE.

PROACT EU-Response is today based on several networks that are set to work together and expand:

• A clinical network of 80 clinical centers across 21 European countries
• A network of eleven microbiology laboratories (VIRvOLT laboratory network )
• A network of dedicated methodologists and trialists, who will ensure methodological expertise for clinical adaptive trials that will be launched (such as adaptive master protocol or futility assessment)
• A network of experts in the humanities and social sciences who will contribute to our understanding the societal contexts of clinical trial participation.

This clinical network will be mobilised in large-scale multi-country adaptive trials within the framework of a platform called EU-SyndAct (European Syndromic Adaptive Clinical Trial).

Its primary objective is to evaluate the efficacy of treatments -new or repurposed molecules, alone or in combination-  on the recovery of hospitalised adults patients with severe respiratory viral infections.

The first sub-study, EU-SynAct-1, will simultaneously cover influenza, COVID-19 and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).

PROACT-EU, a multidisciplinary approach incorporating the humanities and social sciences

PROACT EU-Response also breaks new ground in its disciplinary scope.

Where EU-RESPONSE focused primarily on medical aspects, the new project fully integrates the humanities and social sciences as a structural component of the project.

In practice, social science researchers are working alongside clinicians to provide contextual understanding of trial participation among adults, including predefined subgroups and marginalised groups.

Further research and initiatives will involve civil society organisations to identify the mechanisms driving misinformation during health crises, and to strengthen health literacy among European patients and citizens.

The aim is for people to better understand clinical trials, engage with them more readily, and be equipped to evaluate the information they receive when the next health emergency strikes.

By empowering various communities- scientists, social science researchers and civil society members-, PROACT EU-Response proposes to collectively build the conditions for a pandemic response that is better understood — and better accepted.

« The creation of a European clinical trial network for pandemic preparedness through the PROACT EU-Response project and the EU-Response represents a strategic initiative to foster coordinated, timely, and evidence-based research and innovation across Europe. It will allow us to overcome the fragmentation inherent in current pandemic preparedness efforts, which no single organisation or existing association alone can address. »

Pr Yazdan Yazdanpanah, Director of ANRS Emerging Infectious Diseases and Coordinator of EU-RESPONSE

« The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the shortcomings of our initial response, including significant delays in launching clinical trials. With PROACT EU-Response, we can act before crises arrive. We take time now to train clinical centers, formalise contractual agreements and build capacity. Adaptive clinical trials will validate the robustness of the clinical network. »

Pr Karine Lacombe, Coordinator of PROACT EU-Response